Telegram now claims to have more than 500 million active users. "In the last 72 hours alone, more than 25 million new users from around the world have joined Telegram," said a notification sent by the chat app.
The app can be compared to WhatsApp. More than 2 billion people use this, the chat service reported last summer.
One of the differences between the two apps is that you can chat via Telegram with just a username and without others seeing your phone number. There must be a phone number associated with the app, but the settings can be adjusted so that no one can see it.
Incitement to violence
The significant increase in Telegram users could be explained by users of the Twitter alternative Parler switching to Telegram. Parler was pulled from its App Store by Apple this weekend, a day after Google did the same in its Play Store.
According to Apple, the platform has not done enough to stop the spread of messages that incite violence. Parler is popular with supporters of President Trump because they can put anything on it, while Twitter and Facebook are increasingly banning content.