Instant messaging service provider Telegram says it has recorded a surge in the number of new users to its platform, coming less than a week after WhatsApp announced changes to its policies.
According to Pavel Durov, Telegram’s Russian founder, the platform now has more than 500 million monthly users and has received 25 million new users in the last 72 hours.
“In the first week of January, Telegram surpassed 500 million monthly active users. After that it kept growing: 25 million new users joined Telegram in the last 72 hours alone,” said Mr Durov, adding that new users came from across the globe.
Thirty-eight per cent came from Asia, 27 per cent from Europe, 21 per cent from Latin America and 8 per cent from the MENA region (the Middle East and North Africa).
In an indirect swipe at Facebook-owned Whatsapp over its recent update of the privacy policy, Mr Durov attributed the increase in users to subscribers’ need for more privacy.
