Telegram's Approach to Anonymized and Aggregated Data for Research

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Messaging application, distinguishes itself with a strong emphasis on user privacy and security. When it comes to anonymized or aggregated data for research purposes, Telegram's official stance, as outlined in its Privacy Policy, emphasizes minimal data collection and a commitment to not using user data for advertising. This principle guides its approach to any form of data processing, including for internal or external research.

Telegram primarily states that it "only stores the data that Telegram needs to function as a secure and feature-rich messaging service." This core principle suggests a limited scope for data collection and, by extension, for any research derived from that data.

One specific instance where Telegram's policy mentions anonymized data is in relation to contact information. When users grant permission for Telegram to sync their contacts, it stores updated contact information (phone numbers and names) to notify users when a contact joins the platform and to display names in notifications. Critically, Telegram's "automatic algorithms can also use anonymized sets of phone numbers to calculate the approximate number of potential contacts an unregistered phone number may have on Telegram." This anonymized data is then used to provide telegram data statistics in the "Invite Friends" interface, giving users an idea of who might benefit from joining. This is a clear example of Telegram using anonymized data for an internal, service-related purpose, not necessarily for broader academic or external research.

Furthermore, Telegram has explicitly stated that it does not use user data to show ads. This commitment distinguishes it from many other social media platforms that heavily rely on user data for targeted advertising, often involving extensive aggregation and analysis for commercial research.

While Telegram itself may not explicitly publish aggregated datasets for external research, the platform's API and the nature of public channels and groups do make it a subject of external academic and cybersecurity research. Researchers often utilize Telegram's API to collect data from public channels and groups for studies on topics like information dissemination, political discourse, cyber threats, and user behavior. In such cases, it is the researchers' responsibility to anonymize or aggregate data to ensure privacy and comply with ethical guidelines and relevant data protection laws (like GDPR) before conducting their analysis. For example, studies might analyze message frequency, content patterns, or network structures within public communities without identifying individual users.

It's important to note that "Secret Chats" on Telegram are end-to-end encrypted, meaning only the sender and recipient have the keys to decrypt the messages. Telegram does not store these messages on its servers and has no access to their content, making it impossible for the company to use them for any form of research, anonymized or otherwise. Cloud chats, while encrypted in transit and stored encrypted on Telegram's servers, are accessible to Telegram for syncing across devices. However, Telegram maintains that the encryption keys are stored in different jurisdictions, limiting direct access to user data.


In summary, Telegram's official policy points to a cautious approach to data handling. While it uses anonymized phone number data for internal service improvements, there's no indication that it routinely aggregates or anonymizes user data for broader, external research purposes directly from the company. Any such research involving Telegram data is more likely conducted by independent researchers who obtain data from public sources on the platform and are then responsible for their own anonymization and aggregation practices.