Wednesday 13 January 2021
25 million new users
Telegram recorded a huge inflow
Telegram has experienced a miraculous increase in users over the past three days. Trump supporters looking for an alternative? Probably also. In addition, the larger competitor WhatsApp laid off many users with new data security guidelines.
Messenger service Telegram has garnered around 25 million new users within 72 hours. As the Russian app founder Pavel Duro announced on Tuesday, the platform currently has around 500 million monthly active users. This brings Telegram closer to its US competitor WhatsApp, which recently had two billion users worldwide.
One reason for the increase could also be that Twitter also condemned the accounts of thousands of QAnon followers from the platform after Donald Trump’s account was blocked. At the same time, the parlor service, popular with right-wing extremists, is now offline after Amazon hosted the site. So many users are looking for alternatives.
However, it is also disappointing that the rush of users on Telegram coincides with the introduction of new data security situations on WhatsApp. The new rules state that more data can be passed on to the parent company Facebook. The changes have been criticized as users outside Europe who do not agree to the terms before 8 February will be banned from the app.
“People no longer want to give up their privacy for free services,” Duoro said without specifically mentioning WhatsApp. He said that Telegram is the “biggest hub” for those looking for a private and secure communication platform. Duoro assured users that his team “takes this responsibility very seriously”.
The messaging app was founded in 2013 by brothers Pavel and Nikolai Durov, who also launched the Russian online network VKontakte. Because Telegram refuses to cooperate with the authorities and pass on encryption, the app is banned in other places in Russia.
Facebook bought WhatsApp in 2014. At the time, the group said that an automated data comparison between the two services would not be technically possible – an inaccurate statement for which the EU Commission fined Facebook a million after three years. The European Union Commission expressly forbade such data exchange during the takeover. WhatsApp’s new data security guidelines are not valid in the European Union – EU citizens still have to agree that they want to continue using the messenger.
