Dutch police can urgently request data of anonymous Telegram users by filling in a form and sending it in. Under the rules, this is actually only possible if there is immediate danger to life.
The form goes to a Telegram office in Dubai, after which personal data on the user is returned, BNR reports. The radio station has read this in documents the editors requested through the Open Government Act. The possibility has existed since December last year.
Telegram says nothing about requests from governments in its privacy policy, but says in its faq that it has given "0 bytes of data" to governments. "Telegram can only be forced to give up data if an issue is serious and universal enough to pass the test of different legal systems around the world."
The Dutch police are not the only ones who can do this. German federal police can also request data from Telegram, Heise writes. It is unclear how often Dutch police have already requested data from Telegram.