Russia Targets Telegram Founder in Escalating Digital Crackdown

**Telegram** is a **cloud-based messaging platform** founded in 2013 by Pavel and Nikolai Durov that has become one of the world's most significant communication apps.[1] The service allows users to exchange text messages, hold voice calls, share files, and join groups of up to 200,000 members, with conversations seamlessly syncing across smartphones, computers, and web browsers.[1] The organization emerged from Pavel Durov's experiences with his previous company, VKontakte (VK), a Russian social network that grew to over 100 million users. When the Russian government pressured VK to censor protest-related content in 2011, Durov refused and subsequently left Russia.[1] This principled stance shaped Telegram's founding philosophy: creating a platform prioritizing privacy and freedom of expression without government interference.[1] Telegram differentiates itself through robust security features, particularly **end-to-end encryption** for "secret" chats and video calls, where only conversation participants can access messages.[1] Unlike competitors such as WhatsApp, Telegram collects minimal user data—requiring only a phone number to sign up.[4] The platform also offers superior file-sharing capabilities and one-to-many communication through channels and supergroups, making it attractive to content creators and news organizations.[3] The company's growth has been remarkable. As of 2025, Telegram surpassed **1 billion monthly active users** while remaining run by fewer than 50 people, achieving this entirely through organic growth without paid advertising.[3][4] Headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Telegram became **profitable in late 2024** with over $1 billion in revenue, driven by premium subscriptions, advertising, and in-app monetization features like Telegram Stars.[2] The platform has achieved an estimated