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MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Telegram has become the second most downloaded app in the US after President Donald Trump was suspended from Twitter and Facebook, reports The Telegraph.
About 545,000 people in the U.S. downloaded Telegram between Wednesday and Sunday, nearly three times as much as the same period a week earlier, the newspaper said Monday, referring to the data industry Sensor Tower, after the Parler social network was taken offline.
CEO John Matze said Monday that Parler is likely to stay offline longer than expected after the Big Tech ban led other providers to end the service, which is popular with Trump supporters.
Earlier, Google, Apple and Amazon suspended their services to the social network after accusing them of not responding to posts related to the Capitol Hill violence.
© REUTERS / SWIMMING POOL
U.S. Capitol police officers take positions as protesters enter the Capitol building during a joint congressional session to ratify the 2020 election results on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on January 6, 2021.
On Saturday, Telegram founder Pavel Durov, quoted by The Telegraph, said the three companies “have a much bigger problem for freedoms than Twitter.” Durov said Telegram is working on a way to continue working on iPhones, even if Apple removes Telegram from the App Store.
Jen Goldbeck, a professor of information studies at the University of Maryland, told The Telegraph that Telegram could become a “longer-term home” for Trump supporters than Parler because it is less likely to take offline.
On January 6, a group of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol building, clashed with police, damaged property, used the inauguration stage and occupied the roundabout. The unrest erupted after Trump urged his supporters to protest alleged voter fraud during the last election. The outgoing president has since been blocked on all major social networks, at least until he does not hold office.