Telegram Surpasses 500 Million Users Following WhatsApp Exodus
We won’t let you down, Telegram founder says
Telegram has officially reached another important milestone, as the service now has more than 500 million monthly active users, obviously as a result of the WhatsApp exodus.
WhatsApp revealed recently that some of the user data is shared with Facebook and other companies, and the service forced users to accept this updated policy to continue running the messaging app.
Many users, however, decided to switch to one of the many alternatives out there, and Telegram is one of them, with founder Pavel Durov explaining the transition sends a clear message to tech giants out there.
“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 said in a post today.
“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.”
Most new users coming from China
This is the biggest surge Telegram receives since its launch, with most users coming from Asia, according to numbers shared by Durov today.
“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. 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,” the Telegram founder explained.
Telegram is often considered one of the main alternatives to WhatsApp, and its focus on privacy is now paying off, with millions of users expected to install the app in the coming weeks too.
You can download Telegram APK for Android here
source: softpedia
