At a Glance:
- Telegram has overtaken WhatsApp as the most popular messaging tool in Russia.
- The authorities have been promoting Telegram as the country is banned from the majority of foreign social media platforms.
- WhatsApp’s share has fallen to 32% from 48%.
Megafon has reported that in Russia, Telegram has overtaken WhatsApp as the most popular messaging tool. After the international brands and services temporarily shutting down their operations in Russia, the Russian crowd was seen relying on Telegram. There were restrictions on some digital services across Moscow.
WhatsApp’s parent company Meta Platform is currently between a Russian court case and prosecutors seeking to label the company as an “extremist organization”. Due to this, the authorities have been seen promoting Telegram as the country has been banned from the majority of foreign platforms including, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
WhatsApp vs. Telegram
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has also affected the ongoing dispute between the foreign digital platforms and Moscow.
Megafon—one of the leading four main telecom partners of Russia, has confirmed with an analysis that the mobile internet traffic demonstrated a rise in Telegram’s share and it has jumped 63% in the first two weeks of March. It was 48% in the earlier two weeks of February.
Megafon also highlighted that in this period, WhatsApp’s share has fallen to 32% from 48%. Currently, on average Telegram user consumes 101 MB of data for a day, as compared to 26MB for WhatsApp.
Russia’s invasion affecting Content channels
Telegram, founded by Pavel Durov, has always been a popular news platform in the country. The platform has almost every major media, government entity, and public figures operating content channels on it.
Megafon shared a statement, “The popularity of the service has grown against the backdrop of restrictions on access to other messengers and social networks. The service started actively growing on Feb. 24.”
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine started on Feb 24. The economic impact on the country can be seen after the withdrawal of several international companies. Almost every big company has temporarily shut down its operations in Russia.
