On Tuesday, Pavel Durov, the billionaire founder of the Telegram messaging app, stated that the platform would likely exceed one billion active monthly users within a year. The app, which has 900 million active users, is rapidly growing in popularity, according to Durov, who fully owns Telegram. He also mentioned that some governments have attempted to pressure him, but Telegram will remain a “neutral platform” and not participate in geopolitics. Telegram is one of the major social media platforms, after Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok and WeChat, with particular influence in the former Soviet republics.
Meanwhile, one of its main rivals, WhatsApp, owned by Meta Platforms, has more than two billion monthly active users. According to the Financial Times, Telegram would aim for a US listing once it becomes profitable. After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Telegram has become the primary source of unfiltered content from both sides about the war and the politics surrounding it. Durov came up with the idea of an encrypted messaging app as a means of communication while under pressure in Russia. His younger brother, Nikolai, designed the encryption. He left Russia because he could not accept orders from any government and searched for a new home for his company, including stints in Berlin, London, Singapore, and San Francisco.
Durov stated that the bureaucracy, especially for hiring global talent, in those places was too cumbersome, and he was attacked on the streets of San Francisco by men who tried to steal his phone. Durov also received too much attention from US security agencies, including from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). He stated that US agencies attempted to hire one of his engineers to find a backdoor into the platform. When it comes to freedom of speech, Durov believes that major competitors such as Apple and Alphabet’s Google pose the biggest threat, as they could censor everything accessible on a smartphone.
These companies have informed Telegram that failure to comply with their policies will result in removal from their app stores. Durov selected the United Arab Emirates as his company’s new home since it is a “neutral country” that wants to be friends with everyone and is not aligned with any superpowers. Telegram is used by both opposition campaigners and governments but remains impartial. Durov mentioned that he has no significant assets other than money or Bitcoin, such as real estate, jets, or yachts, as he values his freedom above all else.