Over Half a Million Americans Download Telegram after Trump Social Media Blackout

By Staff, Agencies

Telegram became the second-most downloaded app in the US after President Donald Trump was suspended from Twitter and Facebook, The Telegraph reports.

Around 545,000 people in the US downloaded Telegram between Wednesday and Sunday, almost three times as much as the same period a week earlier, the newspaper said on Monday, citing data company Sensor Tower, after the Parler social network was taken offline.

CEO John Matze said on Monday that Parler was likely to remain offline longer than expected after the Big Tech bans prompted other providers to ditch the service, which is popular with Trump's supporters.

Earlier, Google, Apple and Amazon suspended their services to the social network after accusing it of failing to act on posts related to the Capitol Hill violence.

On Saturday Telegram founder Pavel Durov said, as quoted by The Telegraph, that these three companies "pose a much bigger problem for freedoms than Twitter." Durov said Telegram was working on a way to continue to work on iPhones even if Apple removes Telegram from the App Store.

Jen Goldbeck, a professor of information studies at the University of Maryland, told The Telegraph that Telegram could become a "longer-term home" for Trump supporters than Parler because it is less likely to be taken offline.

On 6 January, a group of Trump's supporters stormed the US Capitol building, clashing with police, damaging property, seizing the inauguration stage and occupying the rotunda. The unrest took place after Trump urged his supporters to protest alleged voters fraud during the last election. The outgoing president has since been blocked on all major social networks at least until after he is out of office.