Telegram CEO and billionaire, Pavel Durov has shown his displeasure following US President, Donald Trump TikTok ban across the country because of its affiliation with China.
Arguing in favor of the app, the billionaire noted that banning the app that boasts of nothing less than 800 million users will be a very risky move that might destroy the internet.
China was the first country to draw the line after banning various non-Chinese apps from being operated in the country. As it stands now, WhatsApp and Facebook have been banned across the Asian country.
Trump TikTok ban irks Telegram CEO
China has been classified as an authoritarian state after moving to eject companies that did not originate from China.
The move noted to be a retaliation to the US sanctions could have a grave consequence in a free world.
US has always been looked up to as a core activist for free trade and speech, but with China leapfrogging them as the beneficiary of world trade, this present administration has lost their core values.
The CEO of the messaging app has been brimming hot with rage against the United States government after the launch of the TON (Telegram Open Network) blockchain project was stopped on numerous occasions.
This move out paid to the distribution of $1.7 billion GRAM tokens the company was planning to sell. It would have been a perfect moment for the company as it did not use data or make use of ads to generate income on the platform. Companies around America have been offering to buy the app following the Trump TikTok ban.
Telegram sell-off happening soon?
Presently, there are rumors that the billionaire is making plans to sell the platform that boasts of more than 400 million users. This latest development is coming after the Telegram’s recent struggles with SEC regarding the launch of the TON blockchain.
According to the reports, the company’s sale was rumored to be announced by a big list of news outlets in the country. Taking a look at the potential buyers, the news outlets said that mail.ru, a billionaire that bought a Russian social media previously sold by Pavel, is in line to be the next owner of the messaging app.
The other person involved in the deal is a highly wealthy Russian billionaire who still chooses to be anonymous pending if the deal will be reached or not.
After reading news about Trump TikTok ban, the CEO of Telegram gave a statement where he said that Telegram will not be sold yet.
There are no plans to sell Telegram. Even if it’s all the stakes or half the stakes, we are not interested in selling.
There are those who make money using Telegram bots which help track their campaigns. Statista reports that there were about 76,000 Telegram downloads to Android devices in Great Britain in January 2020. As for the USA, according to Statista, Telegram was the tenth most popular mobile messaging app in the country as of September 2019.
