Whatsapp and Telegram Chat Certification

WhatsApp and Telegram Chat Certification with European Legal Validity

When a WhatsApp or Telegram conversation must serve as evidence in judicial or extrajudicial contexts (civil, criminal, employment, family, corporate), there is only one priority: crystallizing the digital content before it is deleted, altered, or becomes contestable. With forensic certification, the conversation is acquired through verifiable technical methodologies and transformed into an opposable, intact, and timestamped evidentiary package, compliant with the legal requirements of the European regulatory framework.

The service can be performed remotely via web interfaces (WhatsApp Web and Telegram Web) for clients in any European and non-European country, without the need to send the device. Advanced methods (acquisition via cloud backup or at the laboratory) are available only for residents in Italy.

Certifiable Content

The certification can include (depending on what is present in the chat and the available technical modalities):

• text messages with timestamps and contextual information;
• multimedia content: photos, videos, voice notes, shared documents, attached files;
• visible metadata: user identifiers, aliases, profiles, temporal references displayed by the application;
• contextual elements: quoted replies, reactions, message modifications (when visible on the platform).

European Legal Framework: eIDAS, CoE Guidelines, and Evidentiary Admissibility

To make digital evidence solid and opposable at the European level, we rely on the main regulatory and technical references:

• • eIDAS Regulation (EU) No. 910/2014: governs electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the internal market. In particular, it establishes that an electronic signature shall not be denied legal effect and admissibility as evidence in legal proceedings solely on the grounds that it is in electronic form (Art. 25). The qualified time stamp enjoys a presumption of accuracy of the date/time indicated and integrity of the associated data, a central element when the opposing party contests the timing and manner of content production.
  • Council of Europe Guidelines on Electronic Evidence (adopted on January 30, 2019): the first international instrument providing practical guidance for handling electronic evidence in civil and administrative proceedings. The Guidelines emphasize that electronic evidence cannot be excluded solely because it is in digital form and establish principles on authenticity, integrity, chain of custody, and metadata.
  • Cryptographic Integrity (Hash): we generate digital fingerprints (e.g., SHA-256) of files and the evidentiary package, allowing any party to mathematically verify whether anything has been modified after acquisition.
  • Certified Timestamping: we apply a time stamp compliant with recognized standards (e.g., RFC 3161, ETSI EN 319 422 standard) to fix in time the existence of the certified content with legal validity.
  • Qualified or Advanced Electronic Signature: delivery documentation and reports are signed with a signature compliant with the eIDAS framework, guaranteeing authenticity, integrity, and non-repudiation of the evidentiary package. Upon request, we can extend the certification level for international uses.
  • FEDIS Declaration (Forensic Evidence Digital Integrity Statement): a document that formally attests to the integrity and authenticity of the evidentiary package according to international digital forensics standards. The FEDIS makes the certification admissible in courts of the European Union, United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and other jurisdictions with equivalent legal frameworks for electronic evidence.

These technical-legal elements ensure that digital evidence is admissible in European and extra-European judicial proceedings, reducing the risk of formal challenges regarding authenticity, temporal integrity, and chain of custody of the evidentiary material.

Case Law and International Recognition

Operational Modalities: Remote Certification

What You Receive After Certification: The “Lawyer-Ready” Evidentiary Package

Upon completion of the acquisition and certification process, we provide a complete and structured documentary package, ready for filing with judicial authorities, lawyers, insurance companies, or extrajudicial use:

• • Certified PDF Report containing the readable transcription of the chat with contextual elements and temporal references;
  • Extracted Attachments (photos, videos, documents, voice notes) organized and referenced, when present and technically acquirable;
  • Cryptographic Fingerprints (Hash) of the entire evidentiary package (SHA-256 or higher) as provided by the FEDIS protocol, for independent integrity verification by any expert or judicial authority;

• • Qualified Time Stamp compliant with eIDAS/RFC 3161 standards for opposable timestamping;
  • Technical Acquisition Report describing the forensic methodology applied, technical context, digital chain of custody, and acquisition limitations (written in clear language for lawyers and judicial authorities);
  • eIDAS Qualified Electronic Signature (standard for the EU);
  • Electronic Signature Compliant with Specific Jurisdiction (optional): upon request, we can apply electronic signatures compliant with the legal requirements of specific countries outside the EU (e.g., digital signature USA/ESIGN Act, electronic signature Canada/PIPEDA, qualified signature Switzerland/ZertES) for cross-border disputes with application of standards recognized in the destination jurisdiction.

GDPR Compliance and Personal Data Protection

Chats frequently contain personal data and sometimes special categories of data (sensitive data under GDPR). We manage the acquisition, processing, and retention of material in full compliance with Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR), applying the principles of data minimization, purpose limitation (acquisition for documented evidentiary purposes), technical and organizational security, access traceability, and time-limited retention.

Upon request, we can agree on selective redaction procedures for data not relevant to the dispute (e.g., data of uninvolved third parties) for court production, while maintaining the evidentiary integrity of relevant content.

When to Activate Certification

• if you fear deletion or modification by the opposing party (deleted messages, deactivated accounts);
• if you need to send a formal demand letter, file a complaint, or initiate judicial/arbitral proceedings;
• if the chat contains threats, admissions, verbal agreements, extortion demands, contractual promises, or agreed conditions;
• if you need documented and technically solid evidence to produce to a lawyer, judicial authority, arbitral body, or insurance company;
• if you operate in cross-border contexts with the need for evidence compliant with European or international standards.

Technical Note: The availability of certain information (complete history, multimedia content, contextual details) depends on the application settings, platform retention policies, and the type of access possible (web interface). During the quote phase, we precisely indicate what is technically acquirable in your specific case, operational limitations, and available procedural alternatives.