Instant messaging service Telegram has amassed 400 million monthly active users, it said today, up from 300 million active users the seven-year-old service disclosed to the SEC last October.

Telegram competes with dozens of popular instant messaging services including WhatsApp that has amassed over 2 billion users globally. Telegram often sees a surge in its user base when Facebook-owned service is facing an outage. Durov is also one of the most vocal critics of WhatsApp.

Telegram’s desktop app, which does not require the phone to be connected to the internet to function, and a range of features including folders and cloud storage have won it a loyal set of users.

Telegram has always operated with a degree of disregard for the opinions of government authorities and various corporates — that has resulted in some interesting use cases. Telegram, which is banned in China, counts the world’s most populous nation as one of its biggest markets.

resource: https://techcrunch.com/2020/04/24/telegram-hits-400-million-monthly-active-users/