Telegram
More info
- Creator
- Pavel Durov, Nikolai Durov
- Released
- Owner
- Telegram FZ LLC
- Type
- Messaging app
- Website
- telegram.org
- Wikipedia
- en.wikipedia.org
Chat app from the Durov brothers (creators of VKontakte), launched in 2013 — cloud-stored history, "channels" up to millions of members, a powerful bot API.
Proprietary protocol MTProto (criticised by cryptographers for "roll-your-own crypto"). Default chats are not end-to-end encrypted — only "Secret Chats" are, and only device-to-device. Channels and groups sit in cleartext on Telegram's servers.
~1 billion monthly users. Home to crypto communities, dissident movements, hobby groups — but also disinformation, pirated content and illegal trade. Pavel Durov was arrested in Paris in August 2024 over failure to moderate.