Telegram messenger passed YouTube in terms of daily Russian users last month, TASS news agency reported on Tuesday, citing statistical data provided by media monitoring company Mediascope.
The daily audience for Telegram amounted to 50.9 million people last month, compared to 50.7 million people a day for the Google-owned video platform, the monitor said.
Telegram, the Russian-made competitor to WhatsApp, was launched in 2013 by two brothers from St. Petersburg, Pavel and Nikolay Durov. Since 2017, the platform has been legally based in Dubai.
Vkontakte (VK) social media network – the Russian equivalent of Facebook, which was also founded by Pavel Durov – has meanwhile surpassed both Telegram and YouTube in terms of daily audience in Russia, which amounted to 53.3 million active users per day last month. Regarding monthly audience, however, YouTube continues to beat both Russian-made rivals with 93 million active users, compared to 86.9 million for VK and 76 million for Telegram.
Facebook itself was banned in Russia in November last year after its parent company, Meta, amended its ‘violent speech’ rules to allow calls for “death to Russians” in the West. The Russian Justice Ministry added Meta to the list of extremist organizations, in a decision that affected Facebook and Instagram, but not the WhatsApp messaging platform, which fell under a separate legal category under Russian law.
Nevertheless, according to TASS, Facebook and Instagram enjoyed daily audiences of 1.8 million and 7.1 million respectively in Russia last month despite the ban.