It is difficult to tell anything about who Durov actually is from his online footprint, and he rarely gives interviews, but then inscrutability is in Telegram’s DNA.
The app is run via a complicated network of international servers and shell companies to insulate it from regulation and governmental interference. In 2018, he confirmed on X, then Twitter, that Telegram is headquartered in Dubai, but is “unlikely to ever consider any location [its] permanent base.”
In March this year, it was reported that Telegram was nearing profitability and was considering an IPO.
Privacy is paramount – it offers users secure messaging and calls, as well as the ability to create “groups” to communicate with up to 200,000 people or “channels” to broadcast to an unlimited number. It also has a self-destructing “Secret Chat” function. In 2015, Durov said that since Telegram was founded, “we haven’t disclosed a single byte of user data to third parties, including government officials.”
The app’s protections have made it a useful news source in parts of the world where censorship is rife and a critical tool for pro-democracy activists living under oppressive regimes such as in Iran and Belarus.
It is especially popular in former Soviet countries, and used extensively by the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and Russian citizens who want to access uncensored information about the Russia-Ukraine war. It has also been adopted by news publishers including the New York Times and Bloomberg, which both have Telegram accounts.
But it has a dark side, too, with the privacy and anonymity features making the platform a safe haven for criminals. Researchers have warned that Telegram is a sprawling ecosystem of illegal and violent content relating to far-right conspiracy theories, extremism, terrorism and child abuse.
Use of the app surged in the UK after the killing of three schoolgirls in Southport last month, and it was widely linked to the violent unrest that followed on streets across the country, having been used by far-Right agitators to fuel and organise the disorder. The platform acts to remove illegal and harmful content on public channels, but its website says that: “All Telegram chats and group chats are private amongst their participants. We do not process any requests related to them.”