Last month, Pavel Durov’s messenger was downloaded more than 63 million times, 3.8 times more than in January 2020. The application was often downloaded in India – 24% of all downloads, followed by Indonesia – 10%. This growth is because many WhatsApp users around the world considered Telegram a more secure alternative.

The fact is that WhatsApp, owned by Facebook, in January warned users about the introduction of new rules for the processing of personal data. The messenger will collect more information about users to select targeted advertisements.

Speaking about India, it is worth remembering the friction between the Indian government and the messenger’s leadership – officials believe that by such measures, the messenger violates the personal freedoms of citizens. Indian television focuses on this, which is probably the reason for the massive transition to Telegram.

TikTok became the second most popular app in this ranking with 62 million downloads. The largest number of downloads came from China (17%) and the United States (10%). The Top 5 in January 2021 also includes Signal, Facebook, and WhatsApp.