According to Telegram CEO Pavel Durov, the recent update of the messenger’s terms of use has not led to any significant changes in its operation.

“My previous post may have seemed to announce a major shift in how Telegram works,” Durov wrote on his channel. “But in reality, little has changed.”

Durov, who was indicted by French prosecutors in August in connection with crimes committed using Telegram, previously stated that the messaging app had started moderating private chats, updated its terms of service to prevent criminal use, and started sharing IP addresses and phone numbers of offenders with law enforcement agencies.

In fact, Durov downplayed the significance of the service’s rule updates, emphasizing that since 2018, Telegram’s policy has been to disclose criminals’ data to authorities when they submit “a properly formed legal request through the appropriate communication channels.”

Durov wrote that the recent increase in the number of legitimate requests from Europe is due to the fact that in the third quarter, EU authorities began using the right channels for such communication. European law enforcement officials should be surprised by such statements, as it is unlikely that they had been using “inappropriate channels of communication” before.

As a reminder, the French prosecutor’s office accused Durov of failing to provide law enforcement agencies with data to legally prosecute suspected criminals. Durov, who is obliged to stay in France during the investigation, denies these accusations.