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Telegram auto-delete message, expiring invites, and more

elegram is updating its messaging app with options for auto-deleting messages, expiring invite links, and new unlimited groups, the company shared in a blog post. Much like Signal, Telegram received a burst of new users in the confusion over WhatsApp’s privacy policy and now the company is adopting features that were already part of its competitors’ apps, features which offer more security and privacy. Auto-deleting messages were already possible in Telegram’s encrypted Secret Chats, but this new update for iOS and Android adds the option to make messages disappear in any kind of chat. Auto-delete can be enabled inside of chats, and set to delete either 24 hours or seven days after messages are sent. Auto-delete won’t remove every message though; if a message was sent before the feature was turned on, it’ll stick around. Telegram’s competitors have had similar features: WhatsApp introduced a feature in 2020 and Signal has had disappearing messages since at least 2016.

For some time, Mr. Durov and a few dozen staffers had no fixed headquarters, but rather traveled the world, setting up shop in one city after another, he told the Journal in 2016. The company now has its operational base in Dubai, though it says it doesn’t keep servers there.Mr. Durov maintains a yearslong friendship from his VK days with actor and tech investor Jared Leto, with whom he shares an ascetic lifestyle that eschews meat and alcohol.