Pavel Durov, the co-founder of the Telegram messaging software, stated that push notifications create a persistent, essential vulnerability to consumer privateness, permitting knowledge retrieval even after messages and messaging functions that enable push notification knowledge storage have been deleted from a tool.
Durov cited a latest report, initially revealed by 404 Media, that the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was capable of retrieve deleted messages from a Sign consumer by accessing machine notification logs on an Apple iPhone. Durov stated on Friday:
“Turning off notification previews gained’t make you protected if you happen to use these functions, since you by no means know whether or not the folks you message have accomplished the identical.”
Cointelegraph reached out to Sign concerning the FBI’s knowledge retrieval however didn’t obtain a response by the point of publication.
The latest stories spotlight how investigators and people with adequate technical expertise can circumvent end-to-end encryption and breach consumer privateness by accessing metadata and different data generated by functions, prompting a necessity for decentralized messaging functions that don’t gather such knowledge.
Associated: Telegram founder Pavel Durov says Iranian authorities’s ban backfired
Various messaging software use surges amid spikes in civil unrest and geopolitical turmoil
Decentralized messaging functions and social media platforms skilled a surge in consumer curiosity since 2025, amid geopolitical tensions, nationwide communication blackouts and civil unrest.
Bitchat, a decentralized peer-to-peer messaging software that makes use of Bluetooth mesh networks to relay data between cellular units, permits customers to bypass the web and centralized communication networks fully.
Greater than 48,000 customers in Nepal downloaded the Bitchat software amid a nationwide social media ban in September 2025.
People are additionally discovering methods to bypass nationwide firewalls and bans on privacy-preserving functions through the use of digital non-public networks (VPNs) and different instruments that masks or obscure IP addresses and geolocation, in keeping with Durov.
Authorities bans on Telegram have backfired, as customers circumvent state-imposed restrictions via VPNs, permitting them to entry and obtain banned platforms, Durov stated.
“The federal government hoped for mass adoption of its surveillance messaging apps, however acquired mass adoption of VPNs as an alternative,” he continued, including that over 50 million customers in Iran have downloaded the Telegram software, regardless of a years-long authorities ban.
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