AI Safety Considerations for Subscriber Data on Telegram

Telegram claims to be a privacy-first messaging app, but its use of AI to analyze subscriber data is changing that promise - quietly, and with real consequences. If you’re using Telegram for anything beyond casual chats, especially in regions with strict internet laws, you need to understand what’s really happening to your data.

What Telegram’s AI Is Actually Doing to Your Data

Telegram doesn’t scan your Secret Chats. That’s true. End-to-end encryption there is still intact. But if you’re using regular cloud chats, group messages, or public channels, your messages are being processed by AI systems. These systems don’t read your words like a human would. Instead, they look at patterns: how often you message certain people, what time of day you’re active, what links you click, and even your IP address and device type.

This data helps Telegram fight spam and phishing. According to their own transparency report, AI moderation blocked over 2.1 billion spam messages in Q1 2025 alone. That sounds good - until you realize this same system is now being used to flag content for law enforcement.

After Telegram’s CEO was arrested in France in August 2024, the company quietly changed its policy. Before, they only shared user data in extreme cases like terrorism. Now, they comply with requests for nearly any criminal investigation. In Q1 2024, they handed over data for 5,826 users. By Q1 2025, that number jumped to 22,777 - a 291% increase.

Your phone number, IP address, and even your device model are now part of the data they’ll hand over if a government asks. And you didn’t get a notice. No opt-in. No warning. Just a policy update buried in their Privacy Policy.

How Bots Are Turning Your Data Into a Target

Telegram’s bot ecosystem is one of its biggest strengths - and biggest risks. There are over 10 million bots on the platform. Some help you order food. Others manage your work tasks. But many are fake, designed to trick you into giving up personal info.

Telegram says bots can only access your data if you explicitly allow it. That’s technically true. But here’s the catch: most users don’t read the permissions. A bot asking for “access to your messages” sounds harmless. But if that bot is compromised - and they often are - your entire chat history with it becomes exposed.

A GitHub survey from January 2025 found that 43% of bot developers don’t properly encrypt data stored on their servers. That means even if Telegram doesn’t see your messages, the bot owner might. And if that bot owner gets hacked? Your data leaks.

Worse, malicious actors use AI to build convincing fake bots. These bots mimic real ones - same name, same profile picture, same replies. They ask for your phone number, your location, even your Telegram ID. Once they have it, they sell it. Or worse, they use it to launch phishing attacks on your contacts.

Telegram’s new bot verification system helped reduce fake bots by 73% in some niches, according to bot developers on Reddit. But that’s only for bots that apply for verification. The rest? Still flying under the radar.

Why Telegram’s Privacy Settings Are a Trap

Telegram’s biggest flaw isn’t its AI - it’s its default settings. When you sign up, your phone number is public by default. Anyone can search for you by number. Your profile picture, bio, and last seen status are visible too. You have to go into settings and manually change all of this.

Most users never do. A 2025 analysis by the Freedom Press Digital Security Blog found that 61% of Telegram users still have their phone numbers publicly visible. That’s a goldmine for scrapers, stalkers, and authoritarian regimes.

Even if you lock down your profile, Telegram still collects metadata. Your IP address. Your device type. Your app version. Your connection times. All of it is stored for up to 12 months. And now, it’s being used to build profiles on users - not just for spam filtering, but for compliance.

Compare this to Signal. Signal doesn’t store any metadata. It doesn’t know who you talk to, when, or from where. Telegram knows all of it. And now, it’s sharing that knowledge with governments.

What Happens When Governments Ask

India made over 9,000 data requests to Telegram in Q1 2025. Russia, Iran, and Turkey followed close behind. These are countries where simply being part of a political group on Telegram can get you arrested.

Telegram’s AI moderation system now scans public channels and groups for keywords tied to “illegal content.” That includes protest hashtags, dissident groups, even news sites blocked in certain countries. If your channel gets flagged, your IP address and phone number can be handed over - even if you’re just an admin, not the creator.

One Reddit user, u/PrivacyWarrior99, reported getting a notice from their ISP after Telegram complied with a DMCA takedown request for a public channel they moderated. The notice included their IP address - even though they used a burner SIM card. There was no warning. No appeal process. Just silence from Telegram.

This isn’t theoretical. It’s happening. And it’s happening to regular users, not just activists.

What You Can Do to Protect Yourself

If you still want to use Telegram, here’s how to reduce your risk:

• Use Secret Chats for anything sensitive. Only these are truly private. Regular chats are not.
• Turn off phone number visibility. Go to Settings > Privacy and Security > Phone Number > Set to “My Contacts” or “Nobody.”
• Disable cloud chat backups. If you don’t need them, turn off automatic backups. This limits how much data Telegram can store.
• Only add verified bots. Look for the blue checkmark. Avoid bots that ask for unnecessary permissions.
• Use a VPN. It won’t hide your Telegram account, but it can mask your IP address from being linked to your real location.
• Don’t use Telegram for anything you wouldn’t want a government to see. If you’re in a high-risk country, consider switching to Signal.

Is Telegram Still Safe?

Telegram is no longer the privacy fortress it once was. It’s become a platform that tries to have it both ways: marketing itself as secure while quietly building surveillance tools to satisfy governments.

Its AI moderation works well at stopping spam. That’s useful. But that same AI is now a tool for censorship and data collection. And unlike WhatsApp or Signal, Telegram doesn’t make it clear when you’re being monitored.

If you care about privacy, you’re better off with Signal. It’s slower. It has fewer features. But it doesn’t collect your metadata. It doesn’t share your data. It doesn’t have AI scanning your messages.

Telegram’s future depends on whether its users accept this trade-off. For now, 800 million people still use it. But trust is eroding. And once it’s gone, it won’t come back.