In July 2024, ESET reported a vulnerability allowed malicious files being sent to users masked in multimedia. On 30 March 2020, an Elasticsearch database holding 42 million records containing user IDs and phone numbers of Iranian users was exposed online without a password. The organization was favorable to Telegram’s secure chats and partially free code but criticized the mandatory transfer of contact data to Telegram’s servers and the lack of an imprint or address on the service’s website. Since July 2016, Line has also applied end-to-end encryption to all of its messages by default, though it has also been criticized for being susceptible to replay attacks and the lack of forward secrecy between clients. When the user assigns a local password in the desktop application, data is also locally encrypted. Pavel Durov has argued that this is because it helps to avoid third-party unsecured backups, and to allow users to access messages and files from any device.
Groups and channels
They can respond to messages or mentions directly or can be invited into groups, and are able to perform tasks, integrate with other programs and host mini apps. The Devices submenu shows all of the active devices on a user’s account and allows them https://chickenroadapp.in/ to remotely log out from those devices. Similarly, users can hide their phone number and profile photo from people based on categories such as Non-Contacts or by adding exceptions.
Along with the shared photographs, anonymous accounts shared private information of the women, including phone numbers and social media profiles, encouraging members of the group to contact the women and ask for sexual favors. Far-right and white supremacist communities on Telegram have spread videos of the Christchurch and Halle shootings in groups and channels after the original livestreams were taken down by Twitch. The company only partially fulfilled a court request for personal data on two antisemitic Telegram groups, which authorities considered an intentional lack of cooperation. After the 2021 coup d’état in Myanmar, the junta used Telegram channels to spread propaganda and organize misinformation campaigns against pro-democracy groups. In 2023, Saudi Arabia’s Global Center for Combating Extremist Ideology (Etidal) reported that in collaboration with Telegram, over 59 million pieces of extremist content had been removed from the platform since 2022.
Messaging, features and security
Premium users get access to additional settings, like instant chat translation, and the ability to restrict who can send them text and voice messages. Similar to other social platforms, Telegram users can post stories, a type of short-form content. In June 2021, an update introduced a new bot menu where users can browse and send commands while in a chat with a bot. Bots are also commonly used for businesses to communicate with customers as the bot APIs integrate with communication platforms so that Telegram messages can be sent and received in an omnichannelinbox.
Forwarded messages also maintain reply formatting, able to show which messages in a thread are replying to others. Users can schedule messages to send at a particular time or when their conversation partner comes online, as well as choose to send a message “without sound” without a notification. Some stickers feature full-screen effects that play out when first sent or when tapped. By default, any account that is inactive for 6 months is automatically deleted, though the period can be shortened or extended up to 18 months through the Settings menu. In October 2014, South Korean government surveillance plans drove many of its citizens to switch to Telegram from the Korean app KakaoTalk. Users can use Telegram’s transparency bot to check how many legal requests from their country it has processed.
Telegram also offers an API that allows developers to create bots, which are accounts controlled by programs. Telegram has public APIs with which developers can access the same functionality as Telegram’s official apps to build their own instant messaging applications. Telegram stated that it does not have access to the data, while the platform will share the information only with the authorized recipient.
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Telegram’s default chat function missed points because the communications were not encrypted with keys the provider did not have access to, users could not verify contacts’ identities, and past messages were not secure if the encryption keys were stolen. The order came following a complaint from media organizations —Mediaset, Atresmedia and Movistar Plus+— saying the app allowed users to share copyrighted content without their consent. Telegram’s internal reporting system has an option to report content that contains child abuse, including specific messages in groups and channels.
Volodymyr Flents, the chairman of the public organization “Electronic Democracy”, announced on 11 May 2020 that a Telegram bot appeared on the Web, which sold the personal data of Ukrainian citizens. Telegram responded to the BBC’s reporting, stating that Telegram “proactively moderates harmful content on its platform including child abuse material”, and that its moderation is “within industry standards and constantly improving”. The group was banned after reports from users and media, although no public statement was made. The app has been criticized by numerous research institutions and internet monitoring bodies because violent organizations like ISIS, Proud Boys and the Myanmar junta used it to communicate, both privately between members and publicly through channel posts. Ads from Telegram’s “Sponsored Messages” platform began to appear in channels with more than 1000 followers in October 2021. For users who signed in from the European Economic Area (EEA) or United Kingdom, the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) are supported by storing data only on servers in the Netherlands, and designating a London-based company as their responsible data controller.
- The most common mode of fraud involves scammers sending messages to unsuspecting users, offering part-time online jobs which comprise a series of tasks.
- In 2017, in an attempt to monetize Telegram without advertising, the company began the development of a blockchain platform dubbed either “The Open Network” or “Telegram Open Network” (TON) and its native cryptocurrency “Gram”.
- He focuses on producing content that is both accurate and accessible for diverse audiences.
- The blocking of the main Smart Voting bot was criticized by allies of Alexei Navalny, a Kremlin critic and former opposition leader.
- In July 2025, Telegram partnered with the rapper and media figure Snoop Dogg to release a set of limited edition collectible gifts alongside his music video “Gifts”.
Telegram
- A day later, the Mubadala Investment Company stated that Russia’s sovereign wealth fund participated in its deal undisclosed through the Russia-UAE joint investment platform to buy convertible bonds.
- Secret Chats restrict screenshotting from Android devices and warn when one is taken from an iOS device, while also hiding the chat contents from the final image.
- The NDR stated that they had not noticed these ads before, but closed the channel, stating that an advertisement-based accumulation of Toncoin, albeit unsolicited and not withdrawn, was unacceptable for a German public media broadcaster.
- Similarly, groups and channels can have content protection enabled, which prevents screenshots, forwarding and downloading of media.
- The Devices submenu shows all of the active devices on a user’s account and allows them to remotely log out from those devices.
- Telegram’s internal reporting system has an option to report content that contains child abuse, including specific messages in groups and channels.
In the same menu, users can restrict the circle of people who can call them or invite them to groups and channels, while Premium users also have the option to restrict who can send them text and voice messages. In channels, users can start a livestream, that is able to integrate with third-party apps such as OBS Studio and XSplit. Telegram also provides an open API for the creation of custom bots which can perform various tasks, integrate other services into Telegram chats, or work as mini apps or games. Both in Secret and regular chats, messages can self-destruct after they are read, disappearing for all parties after a period set by the user, ranging from 1 day to 1 year. Telegram messages in private chats can be edited up to 48 hours after they were sent with an “edited” icon appearing to reflect changes, as well as deleted for both sides without a trace.
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The protocol was developed by Nikolai Durov and other developers at Telegram and, as of version 2.0, is based on 256-bit symmetric AES encryption, 2048-bit RSA encryption and Diffie–Hellman key exchange. In July 2018, Telegram introduced their online authorization and identity-management system, Telegram Passport, for platforms that require real-life identification. When an author adds links to YouTube, Vimeo, or Twitter, the service allows you to embed their content directly in the article.
While its regular chats lack full end-to-end encryption, its balance of speed, security, and functionality makes it a top-tier desktop messaging solution. Telegram for Desktop offers a powerful, privacy-conscious messaging platform that caters to both casual and advanced users. In a later blog post, Durov directly stated that the block was a result of pressure from Google and Apple as refusal to comply with their policies would result “in an immediate shutdown of Telegram for millions of users”. The messages were considered vulgar, racist, and homophobic, with members of the chat discussing how they would use the media to target potential political opponents. Third parties were asked to break the service’s cryptography and disclose the information contained within a secret chat between two computer-controlled users.
Reactions can be used to respond to a message with emoji, with Premium users having access to more reaction choices and the ability to leave more reactions per message. As users can be logged into many devices at once, starting to type a message on one of them will create a “cloud draft” that syncs with others, so typing can be started on a phone and finished on a laptop, for example. Chats can be exported to preserve them via Telegram’s Desktop client, although the saved data cannot be imported back into the user’s account. Upon signing up, messages sent and received by the user are tied to their number and a custom username, not the device. To use Telegram, a user must sign up with their phone number or an anonymous +888 number purchased from the Fragment blockchain platform.
On 9 June 2019, The Intercept released leaked Telegram messages exchanged between current Brazilian Minister of Justice and former judge Sérgio Moro and federal prosecutors. Login SMS messages are known to have been intercepted in Iran, Russia and Germany, possibly in coordination with phone or telecom companies. In April 2016, several Russian opposition members’ accounts were hijacked by intercepting the SMS messages used for login authorization. MTProto 2.0 is seen by qualified cryptographers as a vast improvement to Telegram’s security. The Telegram team responded that the flaw does not affect message security and that “a future patch would address the concern”. Nevertheless, they said they saw “no reason why Telegram should use a less secure encryption scheme when more secure (and at least as efficient) solutions exist”.
Changing the phone number in the app will automatically reassign the user’s account to that number without exporting data or notifying their contacts. In March 2025, Pavel Durov announced that Telegram surpassed 1 billion monthly active users. In July 2023, Telegram surpassed 800 million monthly active users, later reaching 900 million in March 2024 and 950 million in July 2024. On 19 June 2022, Telegram announced that it had reached 700 million monthly active users. On 8 January 2021, Pavel announced in a blog post that Telegram had reached “about 500 million” monthly active users.
An investigation published in August 2024 by the BBC showed that Telegram has not responded to requests to join the US–based National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), nor from the UK–based Internet Watch Foundation, both non–profit NGOs. This was done without prior agreement or knowledge of the women, causing intense public backlash and demand for the group to be shut down. In January 2021, North Macedonian media outlets reported that a now-banned Telegram group, with more than 7,000 members, titled “Public Room” (“Јавна соба”) was used to share nude photos of women, often young teenage girls. It also provides an email address dedicated to reports of content related to child abuse. Telegram has been used to distribute illegal pornography, including child pornography.