Telegram’s 100m user milestone reveals a growing audience for privacy-focused products

Photo credit: Christopher Matson

Apple and the FBI have been sparring in the US over the former’s refusal to build a backdoor to an iPhone connected to a terrorist attack – a backdoor that could potentially render millions of other iPhones worldwide vulnerable as well.

Meanwhile, in Europe, a surprising fact was revealed that speaks volumes about the rising concern for privacy. Speaking on the sidelines of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the founder of heavy encryption messaging app Telegram, Pavel Durov, announced his app has hit the 100 million monthly active user mark.

In itself, that might not seem like a lot – WhatsApp is by far the leader in that race, having recently amassed a staggering 1 billion users, while Facebook Messenger and WeChat aren’t too far behind with 800 million and 650 million users respectively.

Telegram founder Pavel Durov. Photo credit: Nick Lubushko

But Telegram offers something different. Its unique selling point is the robust encryption that doesn’t even allow the company to know what is being said through its app. It has a decentralized structure where none of its team members stays in one place for too long. It’s registered in multiple countries so it’s not bogged down by one particular jurisdiction if things come to a head.

These are all lessons that Pavel learned the hard way while developing social network VKontakte, otherwise known as “Russia’s Facebook”. In his time he fought off demands to hand over user data by the Putin regime that would make Tim Cook cower in a corner. After refusing to comply, he had to give up his company and his homeland, fleeing Russia and getting a new citizenship to live as a nomad in Europe.

The key lesson: privacy is important and it’s up to you to safeguard it; no one is going to do it for you.

The need for privacy

Users across the world seem to be taking this message to heart. It took NSA contractor and whistleblower Edward Snowden to highlight both the importance and the difficulty of safeguarding one’s privacy online.

Users across the world seem to be taking the privacy message to heart.

It’s taken an even greater leap for users to accept that sacrificing some convenience in their digital services can go a long way protecting their personal information.

Even as Snowden fled to Hong Kong, the Pew Research Center found that 86 percent of internet users it surveyed took steps to protect their identity and their data online. 55 percent tried to conceal their activity from specific persons, organizations, or the government.

And even then, 59 percent of users didn’t believe it was altogether possible to remain anonymous online.

Virtually private

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