Telegram Reaches 10 Million Paid Subscribers, Announces CEO Pavel Durov
Telegram has achieved a significant milestone, reaching 10 million paid subscribers for its Telegram Premium service, according to CEO and founder Pavel Durov.
In a recent announcement, Durov shared that Telegram is rolling out new features while phasing out outdated ones. One key change is the removal of the “People Nearby” feature, which was used by less than 0.1% of users and had been plagued by issues with bots and scammers. In its place, Telegram will introduce a “Businesses Nearby” feature, allowing legitimate, verified businesses to showcase product catalogues and accept payments seamlessly.
Additionally, the platform has disabled new media uploads to Telegraph, Telegram’s standalone blogging tool, which had been misused by anonymous actors. Durov emphasized that while 99.999% of Telegram users are not involved in any criminal activities, a small percentage—just 0.001%—have tarnished the platform’s reputation.
This year, Telegram is committed to improving moderation, aiming to shift from an area of criticism to one of praise, as the company seeks to enhance user trust and platform integrity.
Meanwhile, in another related update Pavel Durov has written on X that he extends gratitude to everyone who stayed with him during the tough time. On Thursday he stated on his messaging app platform that the “detention was misguided” as they had to be approached with the companies first-hand instead of detaining him at the French airport. That was his first public remarks since he was arrested at the French airport and charged last month by the French authorities.
On Friday, besides thanking his followers, Durov said on the X platform that he was surprised at the incidents that happened at the airport and he is still trying to figure it out. He wrote: “Last month I got interviewed by police for 4 days after arriving in Paris. I was told I may be personally responsible for other people’s illegal use of Telegram because the French authorities didn’t receive responses from Telegram.”
