The messaging app Telegram will surpass one billion monthly active users in a year, according to its founder, Pavel Durov, during an interview with the controversial Tucker Carlson.
“We will probably surpass one billion monthly active users within a year,” Telegram CEO told American journalist Tucker Carlson in an interview published on Carlson’s Twitter account a few hours ago.
The well-known social media platform, based in Dubai, was created by the Russian billionaire. He left Russia in 2014 after refusing to close opposition groups on his VK social media platform, which he later sold.
An app that wanted to be WhatsApp, but better
Telegram was designed to compete with WhatsApp’s dominance. Unlike WhatsApp, it allows users to access their accounts from multiple devices. And it positions itself as the opposite of Facebook, focusing on stronger encryption and less restrictive regulations.
Telegram, especially popular in the former Soviet Union republics, ranks among the top social media platforms, after Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok, and WeChat.
The former owner of VK claims that two and a half million users have been signing up daily on the platform. Hence, with currently 900 million users, they will soon reach the magical number.
The CEO says he chose the United Arab Emirates as a base because it is a “neutral country” that aims to maintain friendly relations with everyone and is not aligned with any superpower, making it an ideal place for a “neutral platform”. Surely the lax regulation and low taxes also have something to do with his choice.
