@charliekirk’s death is an assault on free speech. He fought for open debate, and enemies of truth hated him for it.

Free expression is under attack worldwide. Once free speech is lost, every other freedom soon follows. We must continue Charlie’s mission to defend it ✉️

Growth in the last 30 days 😺

🇲🇩 About a year ago, while I was stuck in Paris, the French intelligence services reached out to me through an intermediary, asking me to help the Moldovan government censor certain Telegram channels ahead of the presidential elections in Moldova.

After reviewing the channels flagged by French (and Moldovan) authorities, we identified a few that clearly violated our rules and removed them. The intermediary then informed me that, in exchange for this cooperation, French intelligence would “say good things” about me to the judge who had ordered my arrest in August last year.

This was unacceptable on several levels. If the agency did in fact approach the judge — it constituted an attempt to interfere in the judicial process. If it did not, and merely claimed to have done so, then it was exploiting my legal situation in France to influence political developments in Eastern Europe — a pattern we have also observed in Romania 🇷🇴

Shortly thereafter, the Telegram team received a second list of so-called “problematic” Moldovan channels. Unlike the first, nearly all of these channels were legitimate and fully compliant with our rules. Their only commonality was that they voiced political positions disliked by the French and Moldovan governments.

We refused to act on this request.

Telegram is committed to freedom of speech and will not remove content for political reasons. I will continue to expose every attempt to pressure Telegram into censoring our platform. Stay tuned. 🤝

The new Telegram update is here — with 12 features added in one month:

💬 E2E Comments & Reactions in Calls
✍️ Notes for Contacts
🎂 Suggested Birthdays
🤖 Threads & Streaming for AI Bots
💡 Bugs & Suggestions Mini App
🎨 New Profile Styles
🎁 Improved Gift UI
🔗 On-chain NFTs on Profiles
🗑 Gift Signature Removal
💧 Liquid Glass Input Field & 🗂️ Tabs

All demos and details 👇
telegram.org/blog/comments-in-video-chats-threads-for-bots

🇪🇺 Telegram sent this message to all its users in France regarding Chat Control. People must know the names of those who try to steal their freedoms:

Today, the European Union nearly banned your right to privacy. It was set to vote on a law that would force apps to scan every private message, turning everyone’s phone into a spying tool.

France led the push for this authoritarian law. Both former and current Interior Ministers, Bruno Retailleau and Laurent Nuñez, supported it. Last March, they declared that police should see French citizens’ private messages (more info here). The Republicans and Macron’s Renaissance group voted for it.

Such measures are supposed to “fight crime”, but their real target is regular people. It wouldn’t stop criminals — they could just use VPNs or special websites to hide. Officials’ and police messages wouldn’t be scanned either, since the law conveniently exempts them from surveillance. Only YOU — ordinary citizens — would face the danger of your private messages and photos being compromised.

Today, we defended privacy: Germany’s sudden stand saved our rights. But freedoms are still threatened. While French leaders push for total access to private messages, the basic rights of French people — and all Europeans — remain in danger.

🕷 Someone made a game about me escaping a French prison — and fighting off all sorts of shady characters along the way. Try it out!

Only on Telegram could independent developers pull this off. The Mini App platform gives them absolute freedom — and the results are wild.

🎃 Happy Halloween!

P. S. I had zero involvement or even knowledge about this before it launched. Respect to the creators!

😋 We’re starting to test new Telegram features such as live-streaming in Stories and auctions for gifts.

🍸 Before we auction gifts from superstars and megacelebrities, we’re testing the auction mechanics with the exclusive 🎁 Telegram Plane gift.

🏆 It will be auctioned in 50 rounds, each distributing 20 Telegram Planes to the top 20 bidders. The first round will last 1 hour, while the remaining 49 rounds will last only 5 minutes each.

🔜 The auction starts in half an hour. Make sure you have the latest version of Telegram installed, otherwise you won’t be able to take part. Good luck! 🍀

A demo of how auctions for rare gifts work 🎈

👉 t.me/auction/TelegramPin

💪 Khabib‘s legendary papakhas — collectibles symbolizing Tradition, Freedom, and Respect — are going on auction on Telegram tomorrow at noon EST (9pm Dubai time).

🌟 As the 29–0 undefeated champion himself puts it:

“Some gifts carry more than value — they carry meaning ☝️”

🏆 Khabib’s gift auction on Telegram is live.

29,000 papakhas dropping across 290 fast 5-minute rounds — 100 unique items in each round. 🎁

t.me/auction/KhabibsPapakha

🐣 It happened. Our decentralized confidential compute network, Cocoon, is live. The first AI requests from users are now being processed by Cocoon with 100% confidentiality. GPU owners are already earning TON. https://cocoon.org is up, with docs and the source code.

🤔 Centralized compute providers such as Amazon and Microsoft act as expensive intermediaries that drive up prices and reduce privacy. Cocoon solves both the economic and confidentiality issues associated with legacy AI compute providers.

🚀 Now we scale. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be onboarding more GPU supply and bringing in more developer demand to Cocoon. Telegram users can expect new AI-related features built on 100% confidentiality. Cocoon will bring control and privacy back where they belong — with users. 🤖

▶️ The auction is LIVE! 🥊

t.me/auction/ufcstrike

🧐Despite some FUD, Telegram has no dependence on Russian capital. Our recent $1.7B bond offering included exactly zero Russian investors. Old bonds issued in 2021 have largely been repaid and pose no issue. 😌

In any case, bondholders are not shareholders and have no say over Telegram’s decisions. I am the sole shareholder. 😈

This year, I wish you less —

less information 📣
less food 🍆
less entertainment 📺
less communication 💬
less stimulation ⚡️

You already have too much of all that, and it stands in the way of your serenity 🧊, health 💪, sleep 💤 and creativity 🖼.

Merry Christmas! 🎄

🇪🇸 My message to Telegram users in Spain ❗️

Pedro Sánchez’s government is pushing dangerous new regulations that threaten your internet freedoms. Announced just yesterday, these measures could turn Spain into a surveillance state under the guise of “protection.” Here’s why they’re a red flag for free speech and privacy:

1. Ban on social media for under-16s with mandatory age verification: This isn’t just about kids—it requires platforms to use strict checks, like needing IDs or biometrics.

⚠️ Danger: It sets a precedent for tracking EVERY user’s identity, eroding anonymity and opening doors to mass data collection. What starts with minors could expand to all, stifling open discourse.

2. Personal and criminal liability for platform executives: If “illegal, hateful, or harmful” content isn’t removed fast enough, bosses face jail.

⚠️ Danger: This will force over-censorship—platforms will delete anything remotely controversial to avoid risks, silencing political dissent, journalism, and everyday opinions. Your voice could be next if it challenges the status quo.

3. Criminalizing algorithm amplification: Amplifying “harmful” content via algorithms becomes a crime.

⚠️ Danger: Governments will dictate what you see, burying opposing views and creating echo chambers controlled by the state. Free exploration of ideas? Gone—replaced by curated propaganda.

4. “Hate and polarization footprint” tracking: Platforms must monitor and report how they “fuel division.”

⚠️ Danger: Vague definitions of “hate” could label criticism of the government as divisive, leading to shutdowns or fines. This can be a tool for suppressing opposition.

These aren’t safeguards; they’re steps toward total control. We’ve seen this playbook before—governments weaponizing “safety” to censor critics. On Telegram, we prioritize your privacy and freedom: strong encryption, no backdoors, and resistance to overreach.

✊ Stay vigilant, Spain. Demand transparency and fight for your rights. Share this widely—before it’s too late.