Incident #E5FDED · 22 AUG 2026major
Telegram narrows its 'no ads from your data' promise and adds new ad targeting
Telegram's blanket pledge not to use your data for ads is replaced with a narrower pledge covering only private chat contents and contact lists. The policy now describes ads in bots, stories and search, plus targeting by language, approximate country/city (from phone number or IP), and the channels a user follows. Premium users are said not to see ads.
Taken from you
- Blanket promise that your data is not used for ad targeting is gone
- Ads may now be targeted by approximate city/country derived from phone number area code or IP address
- Ads may be selected based on which channels you follow
- Ads now appear in bots, stories and public search, not only channels
Won back
- Statement that targeting data is not passed to advertisers
- Premium users are not shown ads or targeted
- Statement that no precise location tracking is used for ads
- Statement that your rights in section 9 remain unaffected
Evidence · 4 of 4 quotes matched in source
Unlike other services, we don't use the contents of your private chats or contacts lists for ad targeting or other commercial purposes.+ inserted · ✓ matched in source
To keep ads relevant, ads can be shown in a particular country and city, approximated based on the country and area code of a user's phone number or their IP address.+ inserted · ✓ matched in source
Users may also see ads selected on the basis of the channels they follow.+ inserted · ✓ matched in source
Archived version ↗ · 508 words changed