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Telegram releases major update for payment customers

2022-06-20T12:12:59.363Z


The operators of the chat app want to earn money with a subscription model. New are, among other things, exclusive stickers, but also practical functions. German users still have to be patient.


Enlarge image

Chat app logo: »Today is an important day in the history of Telegram«

Photo: Fabian Sommer / dpa

The operators of the chat app Telegram launched a payment model on Sunday, for which they are promoting new and expanded functions.

With the “Telegram Premium” service, users should be able to upload larger files of up to four gigabytes, download content faster than with a regular Telegram account and send new animated emoji stickers.

According to media reports, the payment model costs between 5 and 6 dollars a month, depending on the country.

Telegram itself initially did not give an exact price.

The service will initially not be available in Germany.

Telegram is the first messenger to introduce an optional payment model.

The conference services such as WhatsApp or Signal are free of charge, Threema costs 3.99 euros once for the installation.

Telegram operators have been looking for ways to monetize their growing user base for some time.

A few years ago, the plan to introduce your own digital currency failed due to regulatory requirements.

"Today is an important day in Telegram's history," the operators wrote in a blog post presenting the new features.

The current development is the "beginning of the sustainable financing of Telegram," it said.

Ads stay in Telegram

With the current update, Telegram also confirms the plan to display advertisements in the app in order to earn money.

According to the company, anyone who signs up for the new payment model will continue to be able to use the app completely free of advertising.

Everyone else must therefore continue to expect advertisements in the future.

Since last November, text-based ads have been shown in some public channels, albeit only in some countries.

Telegram originally started out as an ad-free service.

In his announcement about the payment service, Telegram boss Pawel Durow had assured that the previous functions of the messenger should remain free of charge.

With the update, Telegram is also expanding the functionality of public channels and groups.

In the future, paying customers should be able to follow up to a thousand channels and organize their communication more easily.

In addition, everyone who runs a public group should in future individually activate who is allowed to write content there and who is not.

On the one hand, the public groups and channels are a unique selling point of the messenger, on the other hand, they also brought a lot of criticism to the operators because extremist and criminal content is repeatedly disseminated.

According to the operators of the chat app, Telegram's user base continues to grow.

The service is now used by more than 700 million people worldwide.

hpp/dpa

Source: spiegel

All tech articles on 2022-06-20

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