Telegram is a cloud-based messaging and broadcasting platform launched in August 2013 by Russian-born brothers Pavel and Nikolai Durov. The app pairs one-to-one and group chat with public "channels" — one-way broadcast feeds that scale to unlimited subscribers — and groups of up to 200,000 members, positioning it as both a private messenger and a publishing platform with end-to-end encryption available as an opt-in "secret chat" mode.
Telegram surpassed 1 billion monthly active users in March 2025, anchoring its position among the largest messengers globally. The underlying MTProto protocol was authored by Nikolai Durov; Pavel — previously the co-founder of Russian social network VKontakte (VK) before being forced out in 2014 — funds and operates the company from its Dubai headquarters. Telegram has cultivated a reputation as a free-speech-leaning, surveillance-resistant alternative to mainstream messengers, a stance that has drawn both a large user base of activists, traders, and online communities and recurring regulatory scrutiny — most prominently Pavel Durov's August 2024 arrest in France over content-moderation disputes.