Following a court order in India, Telegram has disclosed the names, contact information, and IP addresses of administrators of channels accused of copyright infringement. The fact that it can provide authorities with such a large volume of data about its users in just a few seconds demonstrates the power of the instant messaging platform in terms of what it can get.
An order by the Delhi High Court compelled the app owner to share the data imposed on him by the court. An argument was made that the company had not taken enough steps to prevent the unauthorized distribution of a teacher's course material on the platform. This was after she filed a lawsuit against the company. Neetu Singh, the teacher who was the plaintiff in the case, told several Telegram channels were reselling her study materials. However, they were not allowed to do so.
Telegram had earlier been ordered by an Indian court to follow Indian law and disclose information about the members who operate such channels.
During its litigation, Telegram tried unsuccessfully to argue that disclosing information about users would violate its privacy policies and the laws of Singapore. Telegram is currently maintaining its physical servers for storing the data of its users in Singapore. The court dismissed this argument as the ongoing infringement activity is connected to Indian works. This activity is likely to be attributed to Indian users. However, even if the data is stored in places other than India, it could still be accessed from there.
Earlier this week, Justice Pratibha Singh told Telegram's board members that Telegram had complied with the earlier order and had shared the data with them.
As part of the case, a copy of the said data will be provided to counsel for the plaintiffs. This will be with a clear warning that neither they nor any of their representatives shall share this data with a third party. However, for the present proceedings, such disclosure is not permitted. A report first put forth by LiveLaw from the court (PDF) states that disclosure of information to the police/government authorities is permissible.
Telegram spokesperson Remi Vaughn commented that there was no response from Telegram regarding whether private information was shared. He added, generally, Telegram does not store very much information about its users. Our understanding is that, in many cases, we will not be able to access any user data without a specific entry point. This may have been the case here. Due to this, Telegram cannot confirm that there has been any sharing of private information in this instance.
Interestingly, Telegram has grown to rank among the top five most used apps in the South Asian region. This is because Telegram has nearly 150 million users across the continent. According to a previous report, Telegram's piracy problem might have contributed to the sudden popularity of the app among some users. Movies and TV shows are widely shared on the platform. These movies and TV shows will remain littered with easily discoverable channels, some of which have tens of thousands of users - where users can discover or find easily discoverable content.
