Telegram
Cross-platform instant messaging service
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| 2024 | Telegram discontinued the 'People Nearby' and 'Groups Nearby' features due to concerns about their potential use for illegal activities. The removal of these location-based features prompted complaints from some users. |
| 2024 | Sociology Compass published a research paper investigating the increasing use of Telegram for illicit drug trade and transactions. |
| December 2024 | Pavel Durov announced Telegram had reached profitability due to Premium subscriptions and ad sales. |
| December 2024 | Telegram introduced affiliate programs, enabling developers to create referral systems for their bots or mini apps, where users can earn commissions from purchases made by people they refer. |
| October 2024 | Telegram launched Telegram Gateway, a verification platform that allows third-party services to authenticate users by sending verification codes via Telegram. |
| October 2024 | Telegram increased messaging limits for bots, allowing them to send up to 1000 messages per second to users, with messages beyond the free 30 per second limit being paid using Telegram Stars. |
| September 2024 | Ukraine banned Telegram usage by government officials, military personnel, and key workers on official devices due to concerns about Russian espionage, based on evidence provided by Kyrylo Budanov about Russia's potential access to messages and user data. |
| September 2024 | Telegram announced it will begin handing over users' IP addresses and phone numbers to authorities with valid legal requests or search warrants. |
| September 2024 | Telegram disabled the ability to upload images and videos to Telegraph, previously limited to 5 MB per upload. |
| August 2024 | The European Union launched a probe into Telegram to investigate whether the platform breached digital rules by not providing accurate user numbers as required by the Digital Services Act (DSA). |
| August 2024 | Journalist Ko Narin exposed Telegram chats where teenagers used AI to create deepfake pornographic images of their classmates and teachers. |
| August 2024 | BBC investigation revealed Telegram had not responded to requests from NCMEC and Internet Watch Foundation regarding child abuse material on its platform. |
| August 28 2024 | Four days after his initial arrest, Pavel Durov was formally charged with the aforementioned crimes. He posted a bail of five million Euros, was prohibited from leaving France, and was released under the condition of reporting to a French police station twice weekly. |
| August 24 2024 | Pavel Durov, co-founder of Telegram and a French and UAE citizen, was arrested in France by French authorities on multiple serious charges including complicity in managing an online platform for illegal transactions, enabling distribution of child sexual abuse material, drug trafficking, and fraud. |
| July 2024 | ESET reported a vulnerability that allowed malicious files to be sent to users masked in multimedia. |
| July 2024 | Telegram reached 950 million monthly active users. |
| June 2024 | Telegram launched Telegram Stars to facilitate in-app purchases of digital goods and services. |
| May 2024 | Telegram introduced message effects, building on previous interactive emoji and sticker technologies. |
| April 19 2024 | Apple removed Telegram from the App Store in China, further restricting the app's availability in the country. |
| March 2024 | Following criticism, the same judge suspended the blocking order pending a police report on potential user consequences. |
| March 2024 | A judge from Spain's Audiencia Nacional initially ordered a temporary blocking of Telegram in Spain due to a copyright infringement complaint from media organizations Mediaset, Atresmedia, and Movistar Plus+. |
| March 2024 | Telegram sold an additional $330 million in bonds to maintain its independence. |
| March 2024 | Telegram reached 900 million monthly active users. |
| February 2024 | Telegram reported having 41 million users in the EU. |
| 2023 | Telegram was fined by Brazilian Federal Police for partial non-compliance with a court request for personal data on two anti-Semitic groups, following a series of violent school attacks. |
| September 2023 | Singapore Police Force reported that over 6,600 Singaporeans had lost significant funds to prepaid job scams on Telegram and WhatsApp since the beginning of the year. |
| July 2023 | Hyderabad Police uncovered a large-scale fraud on Telegram involving 15,000 Indian citizens being scammed through 'prepaid tasks', with the fraud trail originating from China and money laundered via cryptocurrency wallets. |
| July 2023 | Telegram surpassed 800 million monthly active users. |
| April 26 2023 | Telegram was temporarily suspended throughout Brazil and the company was fined. |
| March 2023 | The Norwegian National Security Authority advised against using Telegram on business devices, citing lack of default end-to-end encryption and Russian origins. |
| 2022 | In collaboration with Saudi Arabia's Global Center for Combating Extremist Ideology (Etidal), Telegram began removing extremist content from the platform. |
| 2022 | Telegram added new login options including Sign in with Apple, Sign In with Google, and login via email address, expanding user authentication methods. |
| December 2022 | Telegram introduced alternative registration method using non-fungible tokens (NFTs). |
| November 24 2022 | Telegram disclosed admin names, phone numbers, and IP addresses of channels accused of unauthorized sharing of national exam study materials, following a Delhi High Court order that rejected Telegram's argument about server location and data disclosure. |
| September 2022 | Telegram expanded reactions for free users, providing access to dozens of reaction emoji previously limited to Premium subscribers. |
| August 2022 | Telegram launched an emoji platform allowing users to upload custom emoji in animated or static versions, with full usage restricted to Telegram Premium users. |
| June 2022 | Telegram introduced Premium Stickers with interactive full-screen effects. |
| June 19 2022 | Telegram launched Telegram Premium, a paid subscription service offering enhanced features such as larger file uploads, faster download speeds, unlimited voice message transcription, additional customization options, and extra stickers and emoji. |
| June 19 2022 | Telegram announced reaching 700 million monthly active users. |
| April 2022 | Bots gained support for customized interfaces and inline page loading, with interfaces that can adjust to match the app's theme dynamically. |
| January 2022 | Video stickers were added to Telegram, using the WebM file format with no specific software requirements for creation. |
| 2021 | A Telegram bot was discovered selling leaked phone numbers from Facebook. |
| 2021 | After the Myanmar military coup, Telegram channels were used by the junta to spread propaganda and misinformation against pro-democracy groups. |
| 2021 | Telegram announced a direct build of its Android app, available directly from the Telegram website with automatic updates and the ability to view channels/groups without app store censorship. |
| October 2021 | Telegram began displaying 'Sponsored Messages' ads in channels with over 1000 followers. |
| October 5 2021 | Telegram gained over 70 million new users during a Facebook and affiliate outage. |
| September 2021 | Telegram suspended several political bots ahead of Russian regional elections, including a bot run by the opposition party and critics of Vladimir Putin's government. The suspension was particularly notable for blocking the main Smart Voting bot, which was criticized by Alexei Navalny's allies as a form of censorship. |
| September 2021 | A Russian researcher discovered and reported a bug in Telegram's self-destruct feature that allowed recovery of deleted photos. |
| September 2021 | Telegram added interactive emoji that play a fullscreen effect in the chat. |
| August 2021 | Telegram reached 1 billion global downloads by late August. |
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This contents of the box above is based on material from the Wikipedia article Telegram (software), which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.