The Telegram messaging app, one of the most popular social media platforms, is expected to cross 1-billion active monthly users within a year as it is spreading like “forest fire”, says its billionaire founder Pavel Durov.
Telegram, based in Dubai, was founded by Russian-born Durov, who left Russia in 2014 after he refused to comply with demands to shut down opposition communities on his VK social media platform, which he sold.
“We’ll probably cross 1-billion monthly active users within a year,” Durov, who owns Telegram, told US journalist Tucker Carlson, according to a video interview posted on Carlson’s account on the X social media platform.
“Telegram is spreading like forest fire.”
Durov, who is estimated by Forbes to have a fortune of $15.5bn (R295.9bn), said some governments had sought to pressure him but the app, which has now 900-million users, should remain a “neutral platform” and not a “player in geopolitics”.
One of Telegram’s main rivals, Meta Platforms’ WhatsApp, has more than 2-billion monthly users. The Financial Times reported in March Telegram was likely to aim for a US listing once the company reached profitability.
