The messaging app handed over user data on thousands of Telegram users to U.S. authorities over 2024, the data reveals.
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Telegram has rolled out its first update of the year, adding a new account verification method powered by third-parties, new message search filters, and the ability to turn gifts into NFTs. The chat app already had a program to verify public figures and organizations on the platform, and it has now launched a project to [β¦]
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A New York Times investigation found that dozens of potential pedophiles have prolifically exploited the child influencer industry.
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Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images; AOP.Press/Corbis via Getty Images
Encrypted messaging service Telegram is finally profitable about 11 years after it was founded, CEO Pavel Durov said Monday.
Durov wrote in a post on his Telegram channel that the messaging platform turned profitable this year because of revenue from ads and its premium subscription. It also paid off a "meaningful share" of its $2 billion debt, he said.
Telegram has been pushing monetization efforts this year such as a revenue-sharing model for content creators and a business-level subscription tier. The premium monthly subscription costs $4.99.
Telegram's 2024 revenue surpassed $1 billion, and the company has $500 million in cash, excluding crypto, the Russian-born founder wrote. He said the results "demonstrate that social media platforms can achieve financial sustainability while staying independent and respecting users' rights."
The milestone is a big improvement from last year's figures: Telegram lost $108 million on revenue of $342 million, according to The Financial Times in August. Losses in early years are common for growing tech and media companies and Durov even floated the idea of a public listing earlier this year.
The messaging service, which said it has about 950 million users, has faced a series of controversies, including bans and scrutiny over the spread of misinformation. In August, French authorities arrested Durov and issued preliminary charges for allowing what they deemed criminal activity on Telegram. Durov has not been allowed to leave France since.
"Using laws from the pre-smartphone era to charge a CEO with crimes committed by third parties on the platform he manages is a misguided approach," Durov wrote on his Telegram channel at the time.
He acknowledged that the platform's growth spike caused "growing pains" that made it easier for criminals to abuse, but said it isn't an "anarchic paradise."
Spain, Germany, and the UK, among other countries, have considered banning the app or placing sanctions because of what they see as disinformation on the platform and a lack of response to government requests to take down some posts. Telegram differs from other social media platforms, such as Facebook and YouTube, because it has little to no content moderation. It is banned in China, Thailand, and Iran.
Telegram was banned in Russia between 2018 and 2020 after Durov denied the Kremlin access to user data. Durov left Russia in 2014 after similar problems with his previous social network venture.
Today, Telegram is popular in Russia and plays a major role in information about the war in Ukraine.
Telegram founder Pavel Durov said Monday that the company is now profitable. Durov said the chat appβs total revenue surpassed $1 billion in 2024. The company, which launched its premium subscription service in 2022, now has 12 million paid users. Durov also said that the app is finishing the year with more than $500 million [β¦]
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For every illegal drug, there is a combination of emojis that dealers and consumers use to evade detection on social media and messaging platforms. Snowflakes, snowfall, and snowmen symbolize cocaine. Love hearts, lightning bolts, and pill capsules mean MDMA, or molly. Brown hearts and dragons represent heroin. Grapes and baby bottles are the calling cards for codeine-containing cough syrup, or lean. The humble maple leaf, meanwhile, is the universal symbol for all drugs.
The proliferation of open drug dealing on Instagram, Snapchat, and Xβas well as on encrypted messaging platforms Telegram and WhatsAppβhas transformed the fabric of illegal substance procurement, gradually making it more convenient, and arguably safer, for consumers, who can receive packages in the mail without meeting people on street corners or going through the rigmarole of the dark web. There is no reliable way to gauge drug trafficking on social media, but the European Union Drugs Agency acknowledged in its latest report on the drivers of European drug sales that purchases brokered through such platforms βappear to be gaining in prominence.β
Initial studies into drug sales on social media began to be published in 2012. Over the next decade, piecemeal studies began to reveal a notable portion of drug sales were being mediated by social platforms. In 2021, it was estimated some 20 percent of drug purchases in Ireland were being arranged through social media. In the US in 2018 and Spain in 2019, a tenth of young people who used drugs appear to have connected with dealers through the internet, with the large majority doing so through social media, according to one small study.
Β© LEREXIS
Telegram launched a new page touting its moderation efforts, which have spiked since its founder's arrest.
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Applying for jobs can be a time-consuming and frustrating process, and some job seekers are using AI to try to make it more tolerable.
Guilherme, a 28-year-old based in Brazil, began looking for a software engineering role after he was laid off in April. In October, after little luck, he learned about AIHawk β a tool that allows users to easily apply for up to hundreds of jobs per day. One month later, AIHawk had submitted more than 1,300 applications on Guilherme's behalf and he landed a job.
"This the type of job I was looking for," said Guilherme, whose identity was verified by Business Insider but asked to use a pseudonym. "It was certainly a byproduct of AIHawk."
Guilherme is among the people who have struggled to find work over the past year and turned to AI tools to help them write rΓ©sumΓ©s and cover letters, prepare for interviews, and apply for jobs.
To be sure, relying on AI during the application process comes with risks β including a rΓ©sumΓ© littered with mistakes β and it could be a dealbreaker for some HR departments. Additionally, in the quickly evolving AI landscape, there's a lack of clarity over how employers and job platforms view candidates' use of these tools.
Federico EliaΒ created AIHawkΒ earlierΒ this year, and in August, he published the code hosting platform GitHub so anyone could use the tool. AIHawk automates the application process for LinkedIn's easy-apply jobs β which pulls info from a user's profile to fill in an application. To date, AIHawk has been "starred" β or bookmarked β on GitHub by more than 22,000 people globally. There are more than 6,300 members of the AIHawk community on the messaging service Telegram, where users critique the tool, share tips on how to use it, and provide updates on their job searches.
AIHawk is one of many AI job application tools on the market. While it can be installed and used without any cost, users previously told BI that doing so requires some familiarity with the programming language Python.
Guilherme's tech background made it easier to use the tool. He said AIHawk typically applied to about 50 jobs a day and that some of these applications turned into interviews.
Guilherme ultimately was hired for a job he didn't apply for using AIHawk. He said he learned about the role after someone from the company reached out to him via LinkedIn. However, Guilherme believes AIHawk played a major role in the outcome of his job search. When he started using the tool, he said he began hearing from several recruiters about jobs he'd never applied for.
"I got several LinkedIn InMails a day, every single day, since mid-October, from recruiters, hiring managers, and C-suites of companies," he said, adding, "This was something that never happened to me before."
Guilherme said that he believes applying for so many jobs "boosted" his LinkedIn profile in the platform's algorithm β making it easier for recruiters to find him.
"With my account's activity being through the roof, my profile was boosted up in searches, which led to my new boss finding me," he said.
A LinkedIn spokesperson told BI that applying to more roles would not make a person's profile more visible to a recruiter. The spokesperson said that job seekers who keep their profiles up to date are more likely to hear from recruiters.
The spokesperson said that the company doesn't permit the use of third-party software β such as bots β that scrapes or automates activity on LinkedIn.
Guilherme recommended that AIHawk users spend time filtering out job titles that aren't a good fit and use interviews as an opportunity to practice their communication skills β which could help them land a job down the road.
Overall, Guilherme said the biggest perk of AIHawk was the time it saved him.
"Imagine if I had to do this manually?" he said, referring to the resumes he submitted with AIHawk. "I'd probably go insane."
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