How Telegram Became The New Dark Web

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00:00March 22, 2024. Inside Moscow's Kroka City Hall, people were singing and dancing during a concert.

00:08Then suddenly, gunfire. Armed men rushed in and started shooting at the crowd.

00:13In seconds, the whole place was filled with smoke and fire. People screamed and ran in every

00:18direction. More than 140 people were killed and hundreds were injured. Only a few hours later,

00:24a terrorist group claimed responsibility. They didn't post on a secret website or the dark web,

00:30they posted on Telegram. Four months later, on August 24, 2024, the world woke up to shocking

00:37news. Police in Paris arrested Pavel Durov, the founder of Telegram. He was accused of helping

00:43organized criminals, ignoring child exploitation networks, and allowing money laundering through

00:49his app. Some people said Durov was a hero who fought for freedom and privacy. Others said he

00:54had built a monster that governments could no longer control. So what is Telegram really? A tool

00:59for freedom or the new dark web? The story starts long before Telegram existed. Back in the early

01:052000s, the internet was changing everything. In Russia, a young man named Pavel Durov loved technology

01:13and dreamed of creating something big. His older brother, Nikolai, was a math genius who spent all

01:19his time programming. Together, they built a website called VK, basically the Russian version of Facebook.

01:26The site exploded in popularity. By 2011, it had over 100 million users, and Pavel became known as

01:33the Russian Mark Zuckerberg. But success came with danger. That same year, protests broke out against

01:39President Putin. The government told VK to block groups that supported the protests and demanded user

01:45information. Pavel refused. He even made fun of the government online, posting a picture of a dog sticking

01:51out its tongue. Soon, police raided his office. Pavel realized he had only two options, obey the government and

01:58lose his freedom, or leave Russia forever. He chose freedom. He sold his shares, packed his bags, and left his

02:05country for good. While moving from country to country, Pavel and his brother began building a new kind of app, one that no

02:11government could ever control. An app for private, secure communication. In 2013, they released Telegram.

02:18Their idea was simple. People deserve privacy. Telegram works differently from most other chat apps.

02:24It has three kinds of private chats. Cloud chats are the normal ones. They're encrypted so strangers can't read them,

02:30and they sync on all your devices. Secret chats are more private. Messages are locked from the moment you send them

02:37until the moment the other person reads them. They can delete themselves automatically, and even

02:41Telegram can't see what's inside. Encrypted calls are also secure. When you start a call, both users see

02:48the same pair of emojis on the screen, a sign that the line is safe and no one is listening. Here's the clever

02:53part. Telegram doesn't keep all its servers in one place. They are spread across different countries

02:59under different laws. That makes it almost impossible for any one government to shut Telegram down or force

03:06it to hand over data. Because of that, people everywhere started using it. Journalists, students,

03:12activists, anyone who wanted to talk freely without being watched. To them, Telegram was a symbol of

03:18liberty. But the same privacy that protected innocent users also gave criminals a perfect hiding place.

03:24At first, Telegram seemed harmless. It was fast, had no ads, and let you create huge chat groups.

03:30But then came the channels, public rooms where anyone could join. Unlike WhatsApp, which limits the number

03:36of members, Telegram allowed hundreds of thousands or even millions in one channel. That's when things

03:42began to change. In Russia, new stores appeared where people could buy drugs. Users opened a channel,

03:49picked what they wanted, paid with Bitcoin, and received a map showing where to collect their

03:53package. It was like ordering food, except it was illegal. Soon the same method appeared in Germany,

03:59the US, and many other countries. Weapons were also being sold through secret Telegram groups. Pistols,

04:06rifles, even grenades in war zones like Syria and Ukraine. And because people could hide their phone

04:11numbers and names, tracking them was almost impossible. Hackers created bots, little programs that could

04:17reply to your messages automatically. These were meant for simple things like translation or games.

04:23But criminals used them to sell stolen data, fake IDs, and hacked accounts. You could message a bot,

04:29press a few buttons, pay in cryptocurrency, and instantly receive illegal material. It was a black

04:35market machine that never slept. Scammers found Telegram perfect for their work. In India, a 21-year-old

04:42student named Yogesh Mina created online classes teaching people how to run internet scams. He had

04:48more than 500 students learning how to send fake investment links and steal money. He used Telegram

04:54voice messages to teach everything. Another man, known as Punch Made Dev, became famous for showing how to

05:00steal money online. He even posted a video pretending to hack a celebrity and used that fame to sell scam

05:06tutorials. He made rap songs bragging about being a million-dollar criminal. Crypto scams spread too. Fake

05:13coins and investment schemes promised big profits. Victims sent money through Telegram and lost it all. And it

05:20wasn't only about money. Some scams targeted people's emotions. In Vietnam, a Telegram group called Beauty Heaven

05:27told lonely men they could chat with beautiful women. But first, they had to pay for VIP missions. Each mission

05:34cost more. And one man lost $22,000 before realizing it was a scam. Telegram was also used for something

05:41worse, recruiting people into real crimes. Criminal groups posted fake job ads that promised high pay.

05:48When people joined, they were told to deposit fake checks at banks or help move stolen money. By 2023,

05:55a postal worker in the U.S. had stolen $24 million in checks through a Telegram group called

06:01the OG Glass House. Meanwhile, Telegram added new features like in-app payments and a virtual currency

06:07called Telegram Stars. Then came the darkest part of all. Some people used Telegram for crimes against

06:14humans. In South Korea, police discovered a group called The Nth Room. It was a private Telegram network

06:21where women and minors were blackmailed into sending explicit videos. Over 260,000 members paid to watch

06:28those videos. It was one of the biggest cybercrime cases in the country's history. In Indonesia,

06:34investigators found another network selling violent videos of animal abuse. Even well-known

06:39professionals were involved. All of it was organized through Telegram groups. These horrors shocked the

06:45world, and they raised a painful question. If a free and open app can hide so much evil, where do we

06:51draw the line between privacy and danger? On August 24, 2024, the story reached its climax.

06:59Pavel Durov landed in Paris in a private jet. Within hours, police arrested him. They charged him with

07:05helping organized crime, money laundering, and refusing to cooperate in terrorism investigations.

07:11The internet exploded. Some people said governments were punishing a man who simply protected user

07:17freedom. Others said Durov's obsession with privacy had turned Telegram into a lawless world. For the

07:23first time, the messenger of freedom was in handcuffs. Today, Telegram has close to one billion users.

07:30For millions, it's a safe space to talk, study, and share ideas without censorship. For others, it's a

07:36secret market full of scams, drugs, weapons, and exploitation. It has become a second internet, an

07:42invisible economy that runs beside the real one. Telegram didn't invent the dark web. It simply

07:48made it easier to reach. Freedom is important, but freedom without responsibility can quickly turn

07:54into chaos. The same walls that protect your privacy can also protect criminals, and that's the true cost

08:00of the digital age.

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