Anonymity on Telegram app: It's a 'Den of Criminals', Kerala Police tells HC

KOCHI: Telegram app should be asked to respond to queries of law enforcement agencies (LEAs) on criminal cases as it has become a safe haven for criminals who misuse the anonymity that the instant messaging app offers, Kerala Police has informed the Kerala high court.
The submission by police was in the form of an affidavit filed on behalf of state police chief by Syamkumar A, operations officer of Cyber Dome, in response to a petition filed by Athena Solomon K to ban Telegram app as it allegedly promotes child pornography and terrorism.
Unlike other messaging applications like WhatsApp, a Telegram user can hide his mobile number and use a ‘user ID’ instead. A user can hide his number even from the administrators of groups and can still send texts, images, videos, or files anonymously. Telegram does not provide any support to LEAs like other messaging applications like WhatsApp and Facebook messenger. Its servers are hosted outside India and they have not given any subscriber details to LEAs in Kerala so far, the affidavit said. As the phone number is hidden, LEAs cannot collect account details from service providers too, the court was told.
It is becoming nearly impossible to trace out details of Telegram users due to the anonymity and security provided to users by the app and the reluctance on the part of Telegram to cooperate with LEAs, police informed. "This situation had given a scenario to have a safe haven for the criminals to do all illegal activities by misusing the anonymity provided by the application," the affidavit said while seeking a court directive to make Telegram abide by country-specific laws, put up servers in India, and to implement a system to respond to queries of LEAs on criminal matters.