Transparency: Telegram's Request Reports

How often do governments ask Telegram for user data, and what does the messenger answer? For years you could only guess. Now the platform has a bot that replies to that question with numbers. 📊

Transparency is one of Telegram's official services. Its description is brief: it hands out a transparency report under section 8.3 of the privacy policy.

Where section 8.3 came from

In September 2024 Telegram changed its privacy policy. If a court confirms that you are a suspect in a criminal case involving a breach of the service's rules, the platform may, after a legal review, pass your IP address and phone number to the authorities.

Before that, this was only allowed in terrorism cases. The scope became wider, and that is why a public report exists: every disclosure of data is meant to show up in it.

What the bot sends back

The bot shows figures for the country where your own account is registered. It is not a global total and not a file to download.

• Number of requests. How many orders from your country's authorities were fulfilled.
• Number of users affected. Whose data was passed on.
• Period. Reports are refreshed every quarter.

If there were no requests, the report says so. For some countries the numbers are tiny, while for others they run into the thousands.

What gets handed over and what does not

Section 8.3 speaks only of an IP address and a phone number. Message content is not mentioned, and Telegram has long stated that it never gave the text of conversations to third parties.

That detail matters. Knowing which data the platform holds helps you judge your own exposure and pick privacy settings.

Getting your report

1. Find the bot in Telegram under the name Transparency.
2. Tap Start.
3. Read the reply: the bot works out your country by itself.
4. Compare quarters if you want to see a trend.

No codes, passwords or payments are needed. If a bot asks for any of those, you are looking at a fake. 🛑

Why countries look so different

The totals depend on national laws, on how active law enforcement is and on how often it turns to the platform. That is why comparing states head to head without caveats is a bad idea.

The same rise can mean new rules or simply more investigations. Read the report as a starting point, not a finished conclusion. 🔍

Journalists and researchers use the reports as reference points for stories about digital privacy. Ordinary users learn how actively authorities in their country request data.

Keep in mind that the report counts only fulfilled requests. How many were turned down is something it cannot tell you.

Cutting your own exposure

Since the platform knows your phone number and IP address, you can at least control what other people see. Hide your number in the privacy settings, keep the profile free of extra details and think about protecting your connection.

For truly sensitive conversations, use secret chats: they have their own end-to-end encryption. Regular cloud chats do not. 🔐

Who needs this bot

People who watch privacy, write about internet freedom or simply want the facts about how the platform deals with states. It is a source of facts in place of rumors.