They're sitting on troves of data. Extremely few use the E2E encrypted "secure chat" feature (mainly because it isn't default, but also because it doesn't sync between devices) and all the chat logs and data are stored on their servers (and are readable by Telegram). They also store your address book on their servers.

I'm sure they will find ways monetize this. Data is the "new gold", as they say[1]...

[1] https://www.google.com/#q="data+is+the+new+gold"

Their FAQ[1] states:

Q: Will you have ads? Or sell my data? Or steal my beloved and enslave my children? No.

So I don't think they will make money by selling data.

[1] https://telegram.org/faq#q-will-you-have-ads-or-sell-my-data...

And what in the world makes you think that a company run by a russian nationalist[1] offering a free service with a million dollar bill will stick by their word (which, in this case is literally a single word)? The naivety of people in this post Snowden world is striking to me.

[1] https://www.instagram.com/p/-MrPWGr7aL/

An FAQ isn't binding. What does their TOS say?

Are you really serious? This is a post snowden society.

> An FAQ isn't binding.

Probably not, but please beware that this service is not subject to US law, but the laws of the Russian Federation.

> What does their TOS say?

TOS are subject to change, right? And even if it wasn't, do you really think the TOS will stop a company run by a russian nationalist[1] offering a free service with a million dollar bill will stick by their word (which, in this case is literally a single word)?

[1] https://www.instagram.com/p/-MrPWGr7aL/

> service is not subject to US law, but the laws of the Russian Federation

They are not registered in Russia, afaik.

> russian nationalist[1] … [1] https://www.instagram.com/p/-MrPWGr7aL/

That's just Pavel's usual populism. He says the same things about Russia or pretty much anything.

>They are not registered in Russia, afaik.

They are writing the software in Russia (right next to the VK's door to be precise), though. Source: local Saint-Petersburg newspapers.

Why isn't the FAQ binding, do they disclaim it elsewhere?

I remember them mention about making a good messaging app without calling fluff (can't exactly point to which blog/faq)

Telegram is losing millions each year, paid by Pavel Durov, its founder.

"If you look at Telegram today, every month it burns over $1 million. It might seem that it’s just going nowhere, but if you want to come up with business model, you need to get to a decent size first. We have 62 million users at the moment, which is enough userbase to attract third-party developers to create products on top of your platform. You can’t do that from day one. It’s difficult."

http://kernelmag.dailydot.com/issue-sections/features-issue-...

I suspect the cost is even higher now.

Isn't this just hoping that products come along that use your platform and that people are willing to pay for that? Doesn't seem a good strategy to my limited understanding.

Also, experience has taught that users are fickle and that products that are free that transition to paid products quickly lose their users.

I read at some point that they were betting on "Messaging as a platform", eventually they may introduce paid services, apps, paid bots, company features etc.

Considering WeChat, that's probably not a bad bet.

If Snapchat is worth $30B, surely Telegram is way more than that.

snapchat covered a new market of communications and captured almost the entire young adult market. also it's already monetized. not sure telegram can compare atm.