Founder, CEO at @telegram (2013), founder, ex-CEO of @vkontakte (2006), part-time troll.
United Arab Emirates
- Tweets 2,434
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- Followers 3,197,484
- Likes 430
I’m turning 41, but I don’t feel like celebrating.
Our generation is running out of time to save the free Internet built for us by our fathers.
What was once the promise of the free exchange of information is being turned into the ultimate tool of control.
Once-free countries are introducing dystopian measures such as digital IDs (UK), online age checks (Australia), and mass scanning of private messages (EU).
Germany is persecuting anyone who dares to criticize officials on the Internet. The UK is imprisoning thousands for their tweets. France is criminally investigating tech leaders who defend freedom and privacy.
A dark, dystopian world is approaching fast — while we’re asleep. Our generation risks going down in history as the last one that had freedoms — and allowed them to be taken away.
We’ve been fed a lie.
We’ve been made to believe that the greatest fight of our generation is to destroy everything our forefathers left us: tradition, privacy, sovereignty, the free market, and free speech.
By betraying the legacy of our ancestors, we’ve set ourselves on a path toward self-destruction — moral, intellectual, economic, and ultimately biological.
So no, I’m not going to celebrate today. I’m running out of time. WE are running out of time.
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🇲🇩 About a year ago, while I was stuck in Paris, the French intelligence services reached out to me through an intermediary, asking me to help the Moldovan government censor certain Telegram channels ahead of the presidential elections in Moldova.
After reviewing the channels flagged by French (and Moldovan) authorities, we identified a few that clearly violated our rules and removed them. The intermediary then informed me that, in exchange for this cooperation, French intelligence would “say good things” about me to the judge who had ordered my arrest in August last year.
This was unacceptable on several levels. If the agency did in fact approach the judge — it constituted an attempt to interfere in the judicial process. If it did not, and merely claimed to have done so, then it was exploiting my legal situation in France to influence political developments in Eastern Europe — a pattern we have also observed in Romania 🇷🇴
Shortly thereafter, the Telegram team received a second list of so-called “problematic” Moldovan channels. Unlike the first, nearly all of these channels were legitimate and fully compliant with our rules. Their only commonality was that they voiced political positions disliked by the French and Moldovan governments.
We refused to act on this request.
Telegram is committed to freedom of speech and will not remove content for political reasons. I will continue to expose every attempt to pressure Telegram into censoring our platform. Stay tuned. 🤝
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❤️ Thanks everyone for your support and love!
Last month I got interviewed by police for 4 days after arriving in Paris. I was told I may be personally responsible for other people’s illegal use of Telegram, because the French authorities didn’t receive responses from Telegram.
This was surprising for several reasons:
1. Telegram has an official representative in the EU that accepts and replies to EU requests. Its email address has been publicly available for anyone in the EU who googles “Telegram EU address for law enforcement”.
2. The French authorities had numerous ways to reach me to request assistance. As a French citizen, I was a frequent guest at the French consulate in Dubai. A while ago, when asked, I personally helped them establish a hotline with Telegram to deal with the threat of terrorism in France.
3. If a country is unhappy with an internet service, the established practice is to start a legal action against the service itself. Using laws from the pre-smartphone era to charge a CEO with crimes committed by third parties on the platform he manages is a simplistic approach. Building technology is hard enough as it is. No innovator will ever build new tools if they know they can be personally held responsible for potential abuse of those tools.
Establishing the right balance between privacy and security is not easy. You have to reconcile privacy laws with law enforcement requirements, and local laws with EU laws. You have to take into account technological limitations. As a platform, you want your processes to be consistent globally, while also ensuring they are not abused in countries with weak rule of law. We’ve been committed to engaging with regulators to find the right balance. Yes, we stand by our principles: our experience is shaped by our mission to protect our users in authoritarian regimes. But we’ve always been open to dialogue.
Sometimes we can’t agree with a country’s regulator on the right balance between privacy and security. In those cases, we are ready to leave that country. We've done it many times. When Russia demanded we hand over “encryption keys” to enable surveillance, we refused — and Telegram got banned in Russia. When Iran demanded we block channels of peaceful protesters, we refused — and Telegram got banned in Iran. We are prepared to leave markets that aren’t compatible with our principles, because we are not doing this for money. We are driven by the intention to bring good and defend the basic rights of people, particularly in places where these rights are violated.
All of that does not mean Telegram is perfect. Even the fact that authorities could be confused by where to send requests is something that we should improve. But the claims in some media that Telegram is some sort of anarchic paradise are absolutely untrue. We take down millions of harmful posts and channels every day. We publish daily transparency reports. We have direct hotlines with NGOs to process urgent moderation requests faster.
However, we hear voices saying that it’s not enough. Telegram’s abrupt increase in user count to 950M caused growing pains that made it easier for criminals to abuse our platform. That’s why I made it my personal goal to ensure we significantly improve things in this regard. We’ve already started that process internally, and I will share more details on our progress with you very soon.
I hope that the events of August will result in making Telegram — and the social networking industry as a whole — safer and stronger. Thanks again for your love and memes 🙏
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One year ago, the French police detained me for 4 days because some people I’d never heard of used Telegram to coordinate crimes. Arresting a CEO of a major platform over the actions of its users was not only unprecedented — it was legally and logically absurd.
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🇪🇺 Telegram sent this message to all its users in France regarding Chat Control. People must know the names of those who try to steal their freedoms:
Today, the European Union nearly banned your right to privacy. It was set to vote on a law that would force apps to scan every private message, turning everyone’s phone into a spying tool.
France led the push for this authoritarian law. Both former and current Interior Ministers, Bruno Retailleau and Laurent Nuñez, supported it. Last March, they declared that police should see French citizens’ private messages. The Republicans and Macron’s Renaissance group voted for it.
Such measures are supposed to “fight crime”, but their real target is regular people. It wouldn’t stop criminals — they could just use VPNs or special websites to hide. Officials’ and police messages wouldn’t be scanned either, since the law conveniently exempts them from surveillance. Only YOU — ordinary citizens — would face the danger of your private messages and photos being compromised.
Today, we defended privacy: Germany’s sudden stand saved our rights. But freedoms are still threatened. While French leaders push for total access to private messages, the basic rights of French people — and all Europeans — remain in danger.
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Instagram considered the Stoic philosopher Marcus Aurelius ‘dangerous.’
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I'm still trying to understand what happened in France. But we hear the concerns. I made it my personal goal to prevent abusers of Telegram's platform from interfering with the future of our 950+ million users.
My full post below. t.me/durov/342
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I’m proud that Telegram has supported freedom of speech long before it became politically safe to do so. Our values don’t depend on US electoral cycles.
Today, other platforms are announcing they’ll now have less censorship. But the real test of their newly discovered values will come once the political winds change again. It’s easy to say you support something when you risk nothing.
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A Western European government (guess which 🥖) approached Telegram asking us to silence conservative voices in Romania ahead of today’s presidential elections. I flatly refused. Telegram will not restrict the freedoms of Romanian users or block their political channels.
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Just launched Telegram Browser, opening the world of TON-based Web3 for a ∼billion users t.me/durov/340
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This spring at the Salon des Batailles in the Hôtel de Crillon, Nicolas Lerner, head of French intelligence, asked me to ban conservative voices in Romania ahead of elections. I refused. We didn’t block protesters in Russia, Belarus, or Iran. We won’t start doing it in Europe.
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If you want to reach your full potential and maintain clarity of mind, stay away from addictive substances. My success and health come from 20+ years of abstaining from alcohol, tobacco, coffee, pills, and illegal drugs. Short-term pleasure isn’t worth your future.
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French foreign intelligence confirmed they met with me — allegedly to fight terrorism and child porn. In reality, child porn was never even mentioned. They did want IPs of terror suspects in France, but their main focus was always geopolitics: Romania, Moldova, Ukraine.
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I’m ready to come and testify if it helps Romanian democracy.
🚨🇷🇴 I officially ask Constitutional Court TO ANNUL Romanian presidential elections (May 2025).
For the very reasons December elections were annulled: EXTERNAL INTERFERENCES by state and non-state actors.
This time proven with evidence! Neither 🇫🇷, nor 🇲🇩, nor anyone else has the right to interfere in the elections of another state.
To all Romanians: ask urgently the Constitutional Court to annul this farce.
We will not give up and we will not betray! This is only the beginning of a great victory!
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📚 If you’re a student choosing what to focus on, pick MATH. It will teach you to relentlessly rely on your own brain, think logically, break down problems, and solve them step by step in the right order. That’s the core skill you’ll need to build companies and manage projects.
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Telegram is now profitable 🏆
📈 This year, the number of Telegram Premium subscribers tripled, exceeding 12 million. Our ad revenue also increased a few times. Telegram's total revenue in 2024 surpassed $1 billion, and we are closing the year with more than $500 million in cash reserves, not including crypto assets 🪙
🏦 Over the past four years, Telegram has issued about $2 billion in debt. We repaid a meaningful share of it this Fall, taking advantage of favorable prices for the Telegram bonds. But there’s a lot of work ahead 👨💻
🔬 Our innovations in monetization this year (⭐️Stars, 🎁 Gifts, 🪙Giveaways, 🖥 Mini Apps, 🤝the Affiliate Platform, 💼Telegram Business, and 📥Telegram Gateway) demonstrate that social media platforms can achieve financial sustainability while staying independent and respecting users' rights 💪
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🎉 Telegram has reached 10 million paid subscribers. 10 million people are now enjoying Telegram Premium!
🆕 Today, we’re introducing new features while phasing out a few outdated ones.
⛔️ We’ve removed the People Nearby feature, which was used by less than 0.1% of Telegram users, but had issues with bots and scammers.
🛍 In its place, we will be launching “Businesses Nearby”, showcasing legitimate, verified businesses. These businesses will be able to display product catalogs and accept payments seamlessly.
✂️ We’ve also disabled new media uploads to Telegraph, our standalone blogging tool, which seems to have been misused by anonymous actors.
☝️ While 99.999% of Telegram users have nothing to do with crime, the 0.001% involved in illicit activities create a bad image for the entire platform, putting the interests of our almost billion users at risk.
✊ That’s why this year we are committed to turn moderation on Telegram from an area of criticism into one of praise.
telegram.org/blog/star-givea…
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Not at all surprised by the Louvre heist. It’s another sad sign of the decline of a once great country — where the government has perfected the art of distracting people with phantom threats instead of confronting the real ones.
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The blockchain industry was built on the promise of decentralization, but ended up being concentrated in the hands of a few who began to abuse their power.
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🔥 This summer, Telegram users will gain access to the best AI technology on the market. @elonmusk and I have agreed to a 1-year partnership to bring xAI’s @grok to our billion+ users and integrate it across all Telegram apps 🤝
💪 This also strengthens Telegram’s financial position: we will receive $300M in cash and equity from xAI, plus 50% of the revenue from xAI subscriptions sold via Telegram 💰
Together, we win ❤️📈🏆
Community note
According to Elon Musk "No deal has been signed"
Source: nitter.app/elonmusk/statu
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👨🏫 A month ago, my father — a leading expert in Ancient Roman literature — turned 80. I asked what advice I should pass to the next generation. He gave me 3:
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Charlie Kirk fought for open debate, and enemies of truth hated him for it. Free expression is under attack everywhere. Once free speech is lost, every other freedom soon follows. We must continue Charlie’s mission to defend it.
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Nicolas Lerner, the head of France’s foreign intelligence — who asked me to silence conservative voices on Telegram in Romania ahead of its elections (and later tried to deny it) — visited Romania just two days before the vote, official sources told journalist @tuca_ro.
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Access to certain Russian media has been restricted in the EU under DSA/sanctions laws. Meanwhile, all Western media Telegram channels remain freely accessible in Russia. Who would have thought that in 2025 Russian Telegram users would enjoy more freedom than European? 🤔
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You can’t “defend democracy” by destroying democracy. You can’t “fight election interference” by interfering with elections. You either have freedom of speech and fair elections — or you don’t. And the Romanian people deserve both. 🇷🇴
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At this point, any tech company can be declared a “criminal gang” in France. A decade of efforts to attract tech investment is being undone by a few bureaucrats advancing their careers and political agendas — at the expense of the French people.
French authorities have launched a politically-motivated criminal investigation into X over the alleged manipulation of its algorithm and alleged “fraudulent data extraction.” X categorically denies these allegations.
This investigation, instigated by French politician Eric Bothorel, egregiously undermines X’s fundamental right to due process and threatens our users’ rights to privacy and free speech. Mr Bothorel has accused X of manipulating its algorithm for “foreign interference” purposes, an allegation which is completely false.
French authorities have requested access to X’s recommendation algorithm and real-time data about all user posts on the platform in order for several “experts” to analyze the data and purportedly “uncover the truth” about the operation of the X platform. One of those “experts” is David Chavalarias, who spearheads the “Escape X” campaign. Formerly known as “HelloQuitteX”, the campaign is dedicated to encouraging X users to leave the platform. A second “expert,” Maziyar Panahi, has previously participated in research projects with David Chavalarias that demonstrate open hostility towards X.
The involvement of these individuals raises serious concerns about the impartiality, fairness, and political motivations of the investigation, to put it charitably. A predetermined outcome is not a fair one. What’s more, French authorities have classified X as an “organized gang” for the purpose of the investigation. This characterization, which is usually reserved for drug cartels or mafia groups, enables the French police to deploy extensive investigative powers under French law, including wiretapping the personal devices of X employees.
X remains in the dark as to the specific allegations made against the platform. However, based on what we know so far, X believes that this investigation is distorting French law in order to serve a political agenda and, ultimately, restrict free speech.
For these reasons, X has not acceded to the French authorities’ demands, as we have a legal right to do. This is not a decision that X takes lightly. However, in this case, the facts speak for themselves.
X is committed to defending its fundamental rights, protecting user data and resisting political censorship.
**********
Les autorités françaises ont ouvert une enquête pénale, motivée par des considérations politiques, concernant la prétendue manipulation de l’algorithme de X et une prétendue extraction frauduleuse de données. X nie catégoriquement ces allégations.
Cette enquête, initiée par le député français Eric Bothorel, porte gravement atteinte au droit fondamental de X à une procédure équitable et menace le droit à la vie privée de nos utilisateurs et la liberté d’expression. M. Bothorel a accusé X de manipuler son algorithme dans un but d’ “ingérence étrangère”, une allégation totalement fausse.
Les autorités françaises ont requis l’accès à l’algorithme de recommandation de X et aux données en temps réel concernant toutes les publications des utilisateurs de la plateforme, afin que plusieurs “experts” analysent les données et, soit-disant, “découvrent la vérité” sur le fonctionnement de la plateforme X. L’un de ces experts est David Chavalarias, qui dirige la campagne “Escape X”. Anciennement connue sous le nom de “HelloQuitteX”, cette campagne a pour but d'encourager les utilisateurs de X à quitter la plateforme. Un deuxième “expert”, Maziyar Panahi, a précédemment participé avec David Chavalarias à des projets de recherche ouvertement hostiles à X.
L’implication de ces personnes soulève de sérieuses inquiétudes quant à l’impartialité, l’équité et les motivations politiques de cette enquête, pour le moins. Une enquête dont le résultat est prédéterminé n’est pas équitable.
De plus, dans le cadre de cette enquête, les autorités françaises ont qualifié X de “bande organisée”. Cette qualification, qui est normalement réservée aux cartels de trafiquants de drogue ou aux groupes mafieux, permet à la police française d’avoir recours à des pouvoirs d’investigations étendus, y compris le placement sur écoute des téléphones personnels des salariés français.
X reste dans l’ignorance des allégations précises qui sont portées contre la plateforme. Toutefois, sur la base de ce que nous savons aujourd’hui, X estime que cette enquête repose sur une application détournée du droit français, afin de servir un agenda politique, et, finalement, de restreindre la liberté d’expression.
Pour ces raisons, X n’a pas fait droit aux demandes des autorités françaises, comme c’est notre droit. Cette décision, X ne l’a pas prise à la légère. Toutefois, au cas présent, les faits parlent d’eux-mêmes.
X est déterminé à défendre ses droits fondamentaux, à protéger les données de ses utilisateurs et à résister à la censure politique.
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20 days ago, a developer launched a Telegram mini app. He built it over a weekend — alone, with no team, budget or investors. His mini app already hit $1M in net profit.
💡 You don’t need a team to become a millionaire #
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9+ months after I learned about the investigation against me in France, I still don’t understand why it began.
At first, the authorities claimed Telegram didn’t respond to French requests — but it turned out they’d been ignoring the EU and French law, and hadn’t sent us a single legally binding judicial request until last September.
Then they argued that Telegram moderated content worse than other platforms — a claim that was soon refuted by several hundred pages of forensic evidence proving the opposite.
Why I’m still unable to leave France — a country where less than 1% of Telegram’s billion users reside — remains a mystery.
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Proud that Telegram is a tool for protests in France against Macron’s failed policies. After 8 years of neglect, people are done with empty PR and posturing - and they’re striking back.
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Last month, France nearly banned encryption. A law requiring messaging apps to implement a backdoor for police access to private messages was passed by the Senate. Luckily, it was shot down by the National Assembly. Yet 3 days ago the Paris Police Prefect advocated for it again.
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One year after this strange arrest, I still have to return to France every 14 days, with no appeal date in sight. So far, the only outcome of my arrest has been massive damage to France’s image as a free country. One thing is certain: we’ll keep fighting — and we will win ✊
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If I had to give one piece of advice to people in their 20s who want to build something great, it would be: “Never drink alcohol.”
I haven’t drunk alcohol in nearly 20 years. Alcohol clouds your mental clarity and intuition for days after consumption.
t.me/durov/359
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This trend in the EU is alarming. I've seen German requests to prosecute users for merely criticizing government officials. Calling a politician a 'pig' or 'lizard' is now treated as a crime. Telegram doesn't comply with such demands — we stand against political persecution.
In Europe, thousands are being convicted for the crime of criticizing their own governments. This Orwellian message won't fool the United States. Censorship is not freedom.
ALT Graphic addressing freedom of speech issues in Europe, with graphic text "All the DSA Protects is European leaders from their own people."
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Telegram's next step is to build a set of decentralized tools, including non-custodial wallets and decentralized exchanges for millions of people to securely trade and store cryptocurrencies. This way we can fix the wrongs caused by the current excessive centralization.
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🎥 My first attempt at recording a video in French (at the request of @LePoint 🇫🇷). Forgive my French! 😉
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Massive overheating in one of the Telegram server clusters may cause some connection issues for European users within the next couple of hours. Apologies for the inconvenience – the problem is being solved.
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Thank you, each and one of the 12,000+ people who stood up to support the freedom of internet and Telegram today in central Moscow. You make me proud and excited to be Russian. reuters.com/article/us-russi…
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🔥 I love the Telegram team. Just yesterday, I suggested 10 improvements to our apps. We had mockups ready the same day, and today, we already have fully functional builds with these features implemented 😳
🆕 These updates include 5 improvements to gifts, 3 to hashtags, the ability to add media to a message after it’s been sent, and the ability to view the time a message was edited 🔜
⚡️ All in just one day. It’s no surprise that the Telegram team has shaped how most messaging apps work today, contributing to nearly every innovation in communication 💭
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Humans are hardwired to copy others by evolution — for a good reason. Mimicking those around us has been the most efficient survival strategy for millions of years. However, the world is different today. We now live in an age of rapid change — what used to be efficient becomes a recipe for mediocrity and decay.
🥂 Let 2025 be the year we rely on our own opinions — not imposed stereotypes and outdated thought patterns. Only by trusting our instincts and following our own unique paths can we fulfill our potential and make great contributions to the world.
Have a happy and productive 2025, everyone! ✨
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French bureaucrats are waging a crusade against free speech and tech progress. Using criminal probes instead of clear rules to regulate internet companies will scare off investment and damage the country’s economic growth for decades.
🚨 BREAKING: French prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation into X over allegations that the company owned by billionaire Elon Musk manipulated its algorithms for the purposes of “foreign interference.”
🔗 ow.ly/ko6V50Wom0H
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Crazy. TWITTER FILES FRANCE seem to expose Macron’s attempts to stifle free speech in France for years.
🚨TWITTER FILES – FRANCE
At this moment, the Trump administration is negotiating with the EU over final obstacles to a trade deal, one of which is European censorship of US social media platforms.
Many analysts believe the massive size of the EU will lead US social media firms to impose European censorship, including on Americans. Last year, the EU’s then-top digital censor, Thierry Breton, threatened action against Elon Musk after he announced a conversation on X with Donald Trump.
Now, new TWITTER FILES show a coordinated effort by France’s President Emmanuel Macron, legislators, and state-affiliated NGOs working together to force the world’s most influential social media platform to censor users for legal speech and influence Twitter’s worldwide “content moderation” for narrative control.
What’s more, TWITTER FILES - FRANCE reveals the birth of the censorship-by-NGO proxy strategy at the heart of the Censorship Industrial Complex:
— President Macron personally reached out to then-CEO of Twitter, Jack Dorsey;
— The timing of Macron’s action strongly suggests coordination with NGOs on a pressure campaign to win more censorship and demand sensitive user data from Twitter;
— The pattern of events indicates potentially illegal activity by various actors.
The TWITTER FILES FRANCE investigation was led by @McmahonPascal and @battleforeurope, and edited by @galexybrane and @shellenberger.
We are releasing the Files here on X and simultaneously publishing a comprehensive report by Clerótte and Fazi on France’s invention of the Censorship Industrial Complex.
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Threats to block Telegram unless it gives up private data of its users won't bear fruit. Telegram will stand for freedom and privacy.
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Exactly 18 years ago today, I launched VK—my first big company.
Single-handedly building VK back in 2006 was an experience that shaped my whole career. I did everything: front-end, back-end, UX/UI, system admin work, and product management. It taught me the basics of each role and how a social network really works.
I realized that no task is too complex—just a bunch of smaller ones that look intimidating when stacked together. Break them down, and you’ll get through.
Full story: t.me/durov/355
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China’s success in AI stems from its Soviet-style education system, which fosters strong competition — unlike Western schools that hide grades to protect feelings. If the US doesn’t reform its education system, it risks ceding tech leadership to China. t.me/durov/394
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“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.” — Ronald Reagan.
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I’m sure you can relate. You’ve been taking a big risk to support free speech — long before it became cool!
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Few WhatsApp users realize they’re using a copycat. Over 80% of its features were copied from Telegram — years later.
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🏆 Telegram now has significantly over 1 billion monthly active users, becoming the second most popular messaging app in the world (excluding the China-specific WeChat) 🥈
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Hackers could have full access (!) to everything on the phones of WhatsApp users – t.me/durov/196
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🫡 3. Prioritize conscience. Studying and translating thinkers from Julius Caesar to Seneca, my father saw that morals outlast talent. Moral compass, unlike intelligence or creativity, is the ultimate human quality that will not lose value even in the age of AI.
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🎙 A week ago, Tucker Carlson published an interview with me about what happened in France. It was covered by media in many countries — except, interestingly, in France. 🤐
piped.video/watch?v=bxFQvOyT…
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The time when the inefficiencies of legacy platforms justified centralization should be long gone. With technologies like TON reaching their potential, the blockchain industry should be finally able to deliver on its core mission – giving the power back to the people.
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🧬 Just wired €400,000 to the Foundation for AIDS Research. Ending AIDS in our lifetime is possible — if we fund the science 🔬
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Privacy is not for sale, and human rights should not be compromised out of fear or greed. t.me/durov/76
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For 7 days Russia has been trying to ban Telegram on its territory – with no luck so far. We were able to survive under the most aggressive attempt of internet censorship in Russian history with almost 18 million IP addresses blocked. t.me/durov/80
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Within the last two days, Russia blocked over 15 million IP addresses in attempts to ban Telegram on its territory. Regardless, Telegram remained available for the majority of Russia’s residents #digitalresistance t.me/durov/77
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We enabled our anti-censorship tools in Belarus so that Telegram remained available for most users there. However, the connection is still very unstable as Internet is at times shut off completely in the country.
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👨💻 Telegram’s looking for an Android dev — who’ll earn $1M / year after tax.
🥇 The only way in is to win our coding contest that ends on July 11. The task? Implement the animation from this mockup in our open-source Android app. 🤖 t.me/contest/420
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We reserved t.me/elona for you – whenever you’re ready 👍
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Telegram is among the top 5 most downloaded apps in the world. Of these top 5 apps, Telegram is the only one that doesn't spend billions on marketing to buy downloads. In a way, we are the only app that is on the list purely because it is genuinely loved by the people 💙
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👨💻 1. Lead by example. People — especially kids — follow what you do, not what you say. Watching my father work tirelessly on numerous books and scientific papers showed me and my brother the meaning of dedication and inspired us to work hard too.
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As Telegram turns 12 today, I want it to keep following my father’s advice: 1 — 🏆 Lead by example, setting trends for the messaging world, 2 — 🚀 Be a positive force, bringing joy to our users, and 3 — ❤️ Prioritize conscience, staying true to our principles.
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Ironically, I was arrested due to the French police’s own mistake: before August 2024, they ignored French and EU laws and hadn’t sent any of their queries to Telegram via the required legal process. They could have learned the correct procedure simply by googling it or asking.
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A year later, the ‘criminal investigation’ against me is still struggling to find anything that I or Telegram did wrong. Our moderation practices align with industry standards, and Telegram has always responded to every legally binding request from France.
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Telegram's update has been stuck in Apple's "review" for two weeks, without any word from the App Store.
If Telegram, one of the top 10 most popular apps globally, gets this treatment from Apple, imagine the difficulties faced by smaller app developers.
t.me/durov/190
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💖 2. Focus on the positive. Growing up in post-war Leningrad, my father learned to control emotions to be a positive force for his family, colleagues and society. He taught me to frame thoughts in ways that bring the most good, even in hard times.
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9 years ago I defended the private data of Ukrainians from the Russian government — and lost my company and my home. I would do it again without hesitation. t.me/durov/179
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⚡ Telegram has launched the most affordable way for businesses to authenticate customer phone numbers — just $0.01 per code delivered worldwide. It's faster, cheaper, and more secure than traditional SMS verification, with payments made in TON. More details: core.telegram.org/gateway
Telegram has been paying atrocious rates to verify its almost billion users, so others won’t have to. Our prices are so low that I’m not sure we can meaningfully profit from this. But I hope this will make the world more efficient and reduce costs for many services worldwide 🤝
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The new Telegram update is here — with 12 features added in one month:
🔒 E2E Comments & Reactions in Calls
📝 Notes for Contacts
🎂 Suggested Birthdays
🤖 Threads & Streaming for AI Bots
🐞 Bugs & Suggestions Mini App
👤 New Profile Styles
🎁 Improved Gift UI
🧬 On-chain NFTs on Profiles
🚫 Gift Signature Removal
💧 Liquid Glass Input Field & 🗂️ Tabs
All demos and details 👉 telegram.org/blog/comments-i…
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NFTs are back — reimagined. 18 Telegram gifts bought for just $57 a few months ago were traded for a $350,000 car.
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We planned an epic New Year’s Eve update with unique gifts for our users. Unfortunately, it’s been stuck in Apple’s review process for a few days, and we still have no response from them. Thanks for your patience — and happy 2025!
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Since 2018, Telegram has fought child abuse in many ways: content fingerprint bans, dedicated moderation teams, NGO hotlines, and daily transparency reports on banned content — all verifiable. Falsely implying Telegram did nothing to remove child porn is a manipulation tactic.
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“We will do everything on the ground to ensure that the next Romanian president is pro-European,” said Macron’s closest ally and key party member Valérie Hayer to France Info on May 10, 2025. So what did the head of French intelligence do in Romania a few days after this promise?
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Iranian authorities are blocking access to Telegram for the majority of Iranians after our public refusal to shut down t.me/sedaiemardom and other peacefully protesting channels.
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Remember all those experts bullshitting the public about how secure WhatsApp was? They might be working for US gov: theguardian.com/technology/2…
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While apps like Telegram and Signal are currently blocked by the Iranian authorities, WhatsApp remains fully accessible in Iran.
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New data on the most downloaded mobile apps of Q1 2025 is out. All major Meta apps dropped in the rankings, while Telegram climbed up. The shift away from the Meta ecosystem continues.
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Apple stopped approving Telegram for iOS updates globally 1,5 months ago after Russia ordered a block on Telegram. More here – t.me/durov/87
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+1. If you're already strong in math, it's worth exploring physics and computer science — both are excellent ways to apply math in the real world, sharpen your logical and critical thinking + solve important problems.
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🏆 Telegram and TON Core launched a new $200,000+ coding contest. It ends on Feb 4. The goal: to optimize blockchain validation and/or build a trustless bridge. Exceptional participants will be able to join the Telegram or TON teams. Details: t.me/contest/393
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Exactly 7 years ago Telegram started as an iPhone app. Today we are launching encrypted Video Calls – first on Android due to reasons explained below. Unlike 2013, 2020 is a year when most mobile apps (including Telegram) are best used on an Android phone. telegram.org/blog/video-call…
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The word ‘slave’ comes from Old French ‘esclave’ (which meant both ‘Slav’ and ‘slave’) as Western Europeans (mainly the Franks) enslaved lots of Slavic people during the Middle Ages. No Slavic country ever invaded Western Europe unprovoked, while the opposite happened many times.
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🏆 Yesterday marked a historic milestone: for the first time, investors gained access to a TON-holding company listed on the US stock market (ticker: VERB). This company is deploying $558 million to accumulate Toncoin — never selling, only buying more over time.
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It is telling that authoritarian governments (e.g. Russia) are trying to block Telegram over encryption, but are more relaxed when it comes to other encrypted messaging apps.
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😎 This is the biggest update in the history of Mini Apps: full-screen mode, home screen shortcuts, geolocation, motion tracking, media sharing, document creation, gift sending, subscription tiers, emoji statuses — and much more. telegram.org/blog/fullscreen…
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Not sure why some media would refer to @telegram as “Russia-based”. We have no servers, developers, companies, bank accounts or offices in that country.
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Telegram has taken its first step toward becoming a video platform. Telegram servers now compress popular videos into multiple quality options and optimize them for streaming. telegram.org/blog/dynamic-vi…
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Well fought, @TimSweeneyEpic — an epic victory. Thanks to you, the US is now free from Apple’s 30% yoke, which has stifled innovation for 17 years. Now, let’s help liberate the rest of the world. You have my support — and the support of @telegram’s 1 billion users.
NO FEES on web transactions. Game over for the Apple Tax.
Apple’s 15-30% junk fees are now just as dead here in the United States of America as they are in Europe under the Digital Markets Act. Unlawful here, unlawful there.
4 years 4 months 17 days.
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