In April 2024, Telegram CEO and owner Pavel Durov predicted that the messenger would surpass 1 billion users in 2025. Today, he announced on his Du Rove’s Channel that the messenger had surpassed the 1 billion monthly active users barrier, making it the second most popular messaging app in the world (excluding China’s WeChat).
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Durov posted the following message on his Telegram channel: “WhatsApp is ahead of us — a cheap, watered-down imitation of Telegram. For years, they have been desperately trying to copy our innovations, burning billions on lobbying and PR campaigns to slow us down. They have failed. Telegram has grown, become profitable, and — unlike our competitor — retained its independence. We are just getting started.”
The businessman also reported a steady increase in user engagement. According to him, on average, each user opens Telegram 21 times a day and spends 41 minutes in the app every day. The company’s profit for 2024 was $547 million.
Telegram, which is developed full-time by just 50 people, has grown in popularity over the past few years and has become a vital means of communication for governments and officials around the world, as well as a lifeline for citizens in conflict zones.
Telegram is currently focusing on improving its moderation system and introducing “mechanisms related to artificial intelligence to solve potential problems.” However, Durov believes that “if they [users] do not cross red lines, we should not control people in the way they express their thoughts, otherwise we can quickly slide into authoritarianism.”