🍎 Last night, Apple briefly removed Telegram from the App Store because a single user had planted illegal pornographic content in a public group chat.

⬅️ Telegram was restored within hours. But I want to explain what happened — to warn other app developers and help protect online communities from similar attacks.

🧹Because Telegram quickly removes illegal content from public groups using user reports, AI filters, content hashes, and other moderation tools, the attacker had to resort to a technical trick. He inserted AI-modified illegal content by editing an old message in an active group chat. As a result, the content was effectively hidden from the group’s members, preventing them from seeing and promptly reporting it.

💰 The attacker was a takedown extortionist: someone who demands ransom from group owners in exchange for not targeting their communities. These extortionists use automated accounts to plant illegal content in public groups and then report it directly to Apple, attempting to trigger the removal of legitimate communities whose owners refused to pay them.

🤝 From a practical standpoint, illegal pornographic content in Telegram’s public groups is not a systemic problem. Our moderation is effective. The fact that attackers must resort to backdated, effectively invisible content and other technical tricks proves this.

⚠️ However, there are two important lessons here for app developers and online communities:

— Extortionists have found a way to manipulate Apple into overreacting. Apple removed Telegram from the App Store before contacting us. This creates a potential systemic risk for every mobile app that hosts user-generated content. If an app used by more than a billion people can be removed from the App Store without prior warning, any app can be.

— The tactics used by takedown extortionists are evolving, putting communities across social platforms at risk. Telegram has extensive experience identifying the tricks used by coordinated reporting gangs and protecting legitimate communities (even when doing so risks our own app being temporarily removed from the App Store). Other platforms may not be equally prepared.

Stay vigilant! ☝️

1️⃣3️⃣ Telegram turns 13 today.

For over half that time — 7,5 years — it's been one of the 10 most downloaded mobile apps in the world.

A whole generation has grown up with it 💪

🎂 Happy birthday, Telegram!

🚨 Two years ago, I was detained in Paris by police for 3 days — the longest they can hold someone before charging them.

In an unprecedented move, French authorities accused the head of a major platform of crimes committed by its users.

That investigation is still ongoing, although it makes less sense with each passing year.

Why?

Because we now have extensive evidence that Telegram was neither worse than other popular platforms at moderation, nor the worst at cooperating with authorities.

So why was Telegram singled out?

Over the last two years, we have seen a pattern emerge in multiple countries: Telegram is quietly pressured to grant political favors — such as illegal censorship or surveillance. When we refuse, local media and “non-governmental” organizations launch orchestrated campaigns portraying Telegram as a cesspool of crime, from child pornography to terrorism.

Our moderation is no worse than that of other major platforms. Yet these campaigns instill the idea that Telegram should be persecuted or restricted.

Suddenly, officials start caring about crime and protecting children — but only on platforms that reject their secret political demands. Platforms that accept such deals get away with almost anything — including literally selling ads promoting child pornography.

Is the French investigation against me political? It certainly fits the pattern we see elsewhere, mostly in authoritarian countries. And it definitely raises questions.

In time, this investigation may itself be investigated — especially now that Macron’s war against free speech is facing pushback. This month, France’s Constitutional Council struck down his social media ban for children under 15 on freedom-of-expression grounds.

🏳️ Gram Wallet in Telegram is ready and is now accessible to a select group of users.

🤩 We'll be gradually rolling it out to our billion+ users over the next couple of weeks.

⚡️ Thanks to the validators who approved the smart contract that powers it, future upgrades of the wallet won't require painful migrations.

This is just one of the innovations we've built to make non-custodial wallets usable ✨

💸 In just one month, Telegram has awarded over $2,222,000 to some of the brightest minds on our planet.

🎨 This week alone we distributed $222,000 among the winners of our two latest competitions — the Design Contest and the Digital Freedom Contest.

On top of that, over the past month we awarded prizes worth more than $2 million to the winners of the 2026 International Olympiads in Informatics and AI.

We're proud to support the best! 🎁

🤝 Telegram has become the sponsor of Codeforces — the largest competitive programming platform in the world.

⚡CodeForces organizes over 100 coding contests every year and has 4 million contestants signed up.

🌱 Since 2010, I've supported Codeforces through the companies I started.

🆙 But this year will be special. Its founder Mike wants to bring Codeforces to the next level — and we'll be happy to help him do that 🤝