Telegram’s response to piracy has improved since the arrest of its CEO *TorrentFreak

When news broke in August that Telegram founder Pavel Durov had been arrested after his private plane landed in France, speculation abounded about the reasons why.

After running the rumor mill for a few days, French authorities said they had charged Durov with criminal offenses related to his role at Telegram and the platform’s “almost total absence” of cooperation with French authorities. After initially being quite optimistic, Durov appeared to take a more conciliatory tone, noting that staff had deployed AI tools in an attempt to remove problematic content.

Telegram promises to comply with valid legal requests

Another supposed change was an update to Telegram’s terms of service and privacy policy to clarify that Telegram will in the future hand over alleged infringers’ personal information, including IP addresses and phone numbers, in response to valid legal requests.

“We will not allow bad actors to compromise the integrity of our platform of nearly a billion users,” Durov said.

Although Telegram has a reputation for not meeting rights holders’ standards, the platform has blocked many piracy-related channels in recent years. In the area of ​​user data, a court in India ordered Telegram in 2022 to hand over information to identify suspected offenders. The company seemed to hesitate, but there were clear indications that the platform ultimately delivered.

As previously reported, Telegram recently took action against Z-Library channels on copyright grounds, but who or what prompted this is still unclear. Whatever the case, it appears that Telegram’s approach to moderation is changing, including reports from France that rights holders have also witnessed a shift.

The takedown speed increases significantly

Following Durov’s assurance that Telegram would become more cooperative with authorities, reports emerged that some pirates, who presumably (and naively) viewed Telegram as a safe haven, are now feeling a bit spooked.

Indeed, in an interview with Le Figaro, the CEO of anti-piracy company LeakID confirmed that for some football-focused streamers the pressure was starting to manifest.

“We have heard from consistent sources that at least three major streamers are shutting down,” Hervé Lemaire told the publication, adding that Telegram also seems to be more responsive to takedown requests.

“We noticed that Telegram was closing illegal streams faster, in 10, 15, 20 minutes, while this was not the case before,” Lemaire said. “Previously, Telegram typically took 24 to 48 hours to shut down these pirate connections.”

Similar changes were also seen at beIN Sports, a company that sees the majority of its content continually pirated, with Telegram-based pirates typically playing a role in the illegal distribution.

“We have indeed seen a significant decrease in the flows of illegal content on Telegram in recent days,” confirms Sarah d’Arifat, legal director at beIN Sports. “However, it is still too early to draw conclusions, although we hope that this improvement will be confirmed over time.”

“Mafia groups” on Telegram

The Association for the Protection of Sports Programs (APPS) counts several major rights holders and broadcasters among its members, including Canal+, beIN Sports, the Professional Football League (LFP) and the French National Olympic and Sports Committee (CNOSF).

In an interview in August, APPS President Xavier Spender described IPTV providers and illegal streamers operating on Telegram as organized criminals, and Telegram as lacking in cooperation.

“What you have to keep in mind is that the players on these platforms today are real mafia groups. They make a significant profit from this activity of pirating content, whether it is sports content or other types of content,” Spender said. “Telegram is not very responsive when asked to shut down the streams, that’s for sure.”

Given the more recent changes, are rights holders optimistic for the future?

Lukewarm reception by other rights holders

“Telegram’s announcement of greater moderation and cooperation with the French legal system also appears to concern illegal sports broadcasting: blocking and announcements of the cessation of illegal broadcasts of sports content by streamers,” Spender confirmed to Le Figaro.

For the Professional Football League, which along with its football counterparts across Europe suffers from high levels of piracy, any positive change is welcome. In the case of Telegram, however, it will take much more to effectively address the unique issues associated with live sports piracy, especially the need for ultra-fast takedowns.

“Telegram’s initial efforts are interesting, but not sufficient,” the LFP said. “The deletion times observed on Telegram remain random and can still reach several hours. Unfortunately, these times are therefore, on the whole, still not compatible with the effective protection of live broadcast content.”

Hervé Lemaire of Leak ID prefers to see how Telegram handles major events before drawing firm conclusions. But of course, he’s seen it all before and understands the brutal reality of the fight against online piracy, even as Telegram suddenly meets demanding industry standards.

“Once it stops being Telegram, the streamers will move on to something else,” he said. “All platforms need to play the game. Telegram is a step. But it is not the end of the war.”