Durov arrest boosts Telegram app downloads

The arrest of Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov in France is starting to impact the app’s traction and ranking.

On Saturday, the founder was arrested for allegedly allowing illegal activity to thrive on the social app by failing to moderate messages adequately, particularly in areas involving drug trafficking, money laundering and the distribution of child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Despite the concerns raised over the app’s content, Telegram is currently seeing an increase in downloads, sending it to the No. 2 position on the U.S. App Store’s Social Networking charts and boosting its global iOS downloads by 4% so far.

Telegram’s lift did not happen immediately after Durov’s arrest. That could be because many people only learned of the news when they were catching up with headlines they missed over the weekend, or because third-party sources for app store intelligence are slightly delayed in picking up ranking changes.

App Intelligence firm Appfigures reports that Telegram didn’t move into the No. 2 position on the Social Networking charts on the U.S. App Store until 3 a.m. EST on Monday, indicating the lift the app is receiving is only now underway. It may be a short-lived bump — as of publication time, the app had already dropped to No. 3. in Social in the U.S., for instance.

However, in France, where Durov was detained, the app jumped to No.1 in the Social Networking category on the App Store and became the No. 3 top app overall.

In the top apps chart (which excludes games), Telegram moved up from No. 18 in the U.S. to No. 8, or an increase in 10 ranking positions since Friday. This is its highest rank here since at least January 1, 2023, Appfigures said.

Typically, Apple’s App Store rankings reflect a combination of metrics like the number of app installs and download velocity, among other factors.

Nevertheless, the adage that any press is good press appears to be true, at least in terms of Telegram’s visibility on the App Store. As users downloaded the app out of curiosity — or even in support of the founder’s ideas around “free speech” — the app began to climb in the rankings.

Based on a separate analysis provided by market intelligence firm Sensor Tower, Telegram’s global downloads on iOS have already seen a 4% increase day-over-day as of Sunday.

On Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron commented that the arrest was due to an “ongoing judicial investigation” and that it would be up to the judges to rule on the matter. “It is in no way a political decision,” he said.