The arrest of Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov in France is beginning to affect the app’s traction and rating.
On Saturday, the founder was arrested for allegedly permitting criminal activity to thrive on the social app by failing to average messages adequately, notably in areas involving drug trafficking, cash laundering and the distribution of kid sexual abuse materials (CSAM). Despite the issues raised over the app’s content material, Telegram is presently seeing a rise in downloads, sending it to the No. 2 place on the U.S. App Store’s Social Networking charts and boosting its world iOS downloads by 4% thus far.
Telegram’s carry didn’t occur instantly after Durov’s arrest. That could possibly be as a result of many individuals solely discovered of the information once they have been catching up with headlines they missed over the weekend, or as a result of third-party sources for app retailer intelligence are barely delayed in choosing up rating modifications.
App Intelligence agency Appfigures studies that Telegram didn’t transfer into the No. 2 place on the Social Networking charts on the U.S. App Store till 3 a.m. EST on Monday, indicating the carry the app is receiving is simply now underway. It could also be a short-lived bump — as of publication time, the app had already dropped to No. 3. in Social within the U.S., as an illustration.
However, in France, the place Durov was detained, the app jumped to No.1 within the Social Networking class on the App Store and have become the No. 3 prime app total.
In the highest apps chart (which excludes video games), Telegram moved up from No. 18 within the U.S. to No. 8, or a rise in 10 rating positions since Friday. This is its highest rank right here since no less than January 1, 2023, Appfigures stated.
Typically, Apple’s App Store rankings replicate a mix of metrics just like the variety of app installs and obtain velocity, amongst different elements.
Nevertheless, the adage that any press is nice press seems to be true, no less than when it comes to Telegram’s visibility on the App Store. As customers downloaded the app out of curiosity — and even in assist of the founder’s concepts round “free speech” — the app started to climb within the rankings.
Based on a separate evaluation offered by market intelligence agency Sensor Tower, Telegram’s world downloads on iOS have already seen a 4% improve day-over-day as of Sunday.
On Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron commented that the arrest was as a consequence of an “ongoing judicial investigation” and that it might be as much as the judges to rule on the matter. “It is by no means a political resolution,” he stated.
