MILESTONE: Encrypted Communications App Telegram Surpasses 500 Million Users
Shane Trejo
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The encrypted communications app Telegram has surpassed 500 million active users, the platform announced on Tuesday.
“In the first week of January, Telegram surpassed 500 million monthly active users. After that it kept growing: 25 million new users joined Telegram in the last 72 hours alone. These new users came from across the globe – 38% from Asia, 27% from Europe, 21% from Latin America and 8% from MENA,” wrote Pavel Durov, the founder of Telegram.
“This is a significant increase compared to last year, when 1.5M new users signed up every day. We’ve had surges of downloads before, throughout our 7-year history of protecting user privacy. But this time is different,” he added.
Durov noted that the public is getting sick of Big Tech monopoly platforms and their hostility against free speech and privacy rights. This is fueling the overwhelming growth of Telegram.
“People no longer want to exchange their privacy for free services. They no longer want to be held hostage by tech monopolies that seem to think they can get away with anything as long as their apps have a critical mass of users,” Durov wrote.
“With half a billion active users and accelerating growth, Telegram has become the largest refuge for those seeking a communication platform committed to privacy and security. We take this responsibility very seriously. We won’t let you down,” he continued.
“Those of you who have used Telegram for the last several years know we’ve been consistent both when it comes to defending private data and to improving our apps,” Durov added.
Big League Politics has reported in the past about Telegram’s emergence as a market alternative to repressive social media platforms:
Barstool Sports, the popular uncensored sports blog, is migrating to the encrypted app Telegram after complaining of growing social media censorship by Big Tech.
They made a public service announcement on Tuesday telling supporters about how they are creating a profile on Telegram in protest of Instagram, the social media provider owned by Facebook that recently implemented new restrictions on content.
“Instagram has been continuously cracking down on what they deem is acceptable content on their platform,” Barstool wrote in an Instagram post on Tuesday. “There are certain videos types (sic) that were ‘ok’ to post months ago that are now getting flagged as a violation of their terms of service.”
“In an effort to bring barstool fans the content they desire and are used to we have started a channel on Telegram where you will get all the videos that we can’t post here. It sucks we can’t post these videos on Instagram but we have to play by their rules or risk getting removed,” they added.
They will continue their presence on Instagram and other monopoly social media providers, but users on Telegram will get the premium uncensored content that is no longer permissible under the draconian regime of Big Tech. Barstool is already getting criticized by the far left for standing for freedom of expression.
Telegram’s emergence shows that the fight against Big Tech is not lost. Do not be surprised if a major globalist backlash against the app occurs in the weeks to come.
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