JAKARTA - WhatsApp's new privacy policy for sharing data (cellphone numbers, IP addresses, and device information) with Facebook, which is planned to be effective on February 8, 2021, actually provides a big advantage for its competitors, namely Telegram.
In his official announcement on his personal channel on Telegram, Telegram CEO Pavel Durov said the app managed to surpass 500 million monthly active users in the first week of January.
Noted, 25 million new users joined Telegram in the last 72 hours alone. These new users came from all over the world, 38% from Asia, 27% from Europe, 21% from Latin America, and 8% from MENA (Middle East / North Africa).
According to him, this achievement is a significant increase compared to last year, when 1.5 million new users registered every day.
"We've experienced a spike in downloads before, throughout our 7 years of protecting user privacy. But this time is different," said Durov.
Durov thinks people no longer want to trade their free privacy for free services. They also don't want to be held hostage anymore by tech monopolies who seem to think they can do anything as long as their app has lots of critical users.
With half a billion active users and accelerating growth, Telegram has become the biggest sanctuary for those looking for a communication platform committed to privacy and security.
Durov said he would take this responsibility seriously and would not disappoint its users.
Those of you who have used Telegram in recent years know that the company has been consistent both in terms of maintaining personal data and in improving our applications. While those of you who have recently used Telegram are wondering if it is Telegram?
"You as a user have been and will always be our only priority. Unlike other popular apps, Telegram has no shareholders or advertisers. We have no dealings with marketers, data miners or government agencies. Since the day we launched it in August 2013, We have not disclosed a single byte of our users' personal data to third parties, "said Durov in his official statement in 2018.
Furthermore, Durov said that Telegram operates in the above way because he considers Telegram to be an organization or an application. For him, Telegram is an idea, it's the idea that everyone on this planet has the right to be free.
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