The encrypted messaging network Telegram, created by Russian Pavel Durov, who was arrested in France over the weekend, has become a universal platform in recent years, despite attempts by some governments to limit its content.
Here are the main facts about Telegram, which is also persecuted and adored in its founder’s home country, Russia.
Launched in August 2013, Pavel Durov’s social network initially competed with other popular apps such as WhatsApp and Viber.
With a special emphasis on exclusive security, Telegram began to “steal” users from other apps whenever they were suspected of collaborating with authorities in different countries. This was the case in particular with the South Korean app KakaoTalk in 2014, when Telegram was downloaded by more than 600,000 South Koreans in one go.
Another country known for internet censorship, whose users migrated to Telegram, is Iran, where Durov’s network had some 45 million users in 2018, more than half of the Islamic Republic’s census.
In Brazil, too, the encrypted messaging network was briefly blocked in 2022 and 2023 due to refusal to cooperate with authorities.
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Telegram remains in close competition with WhatsApp
Today, the largest number of Telegram users live in India, where the app has been installed by more than 700 million people.
Russia ranks second in terms of Telegram’s popularity, with around 85 million users using the platform despite failed attempts to block it, the most notable of which took place in 2018. According to experts, the Russian authorities also tried to block Durov’s network in August without officially announcing it.
The arrest of the founder of Telegram in France has turned the situation upside down and many Russian officials in favour of blocking the network are calling for Durov to be released now and denouncing the censorship of the French authorities.
Ten years after its creation, Telegram has become the second most popular messaging app in the world, behind only WhatsApp and overtaking Facebook Messenger. “Telegram is now second only to WhatsApp and is narrowing the gap every year. It is not surprising that our competitors are worried,” Durov said at the time.
Telegram currently has 950 million users worldwide, having quadrupled its audience in the past five years.
With information from EFE
