In what year was Telegram launched?

Telegram was launched in 2013. Pavel and Nikolai Durov introduced the messaging service in August 2013, beginning with its iOS release; an Android version followed in October that year.

The brothers created Telegram after Pavel Durov’s earlier experience with VK, Russia’s largest social network. Nikolai developed the MTProto protocol that powered Telegram’s communications, while Pavel financed the project and helped build its infrastructure.

A common mix-up is confusing Telegram’s launch with its later growth milestones. The service reached 100,000 daily active users by October 2013, 35 million monthly users by March 2014, and 100 million monthly users by February 2016. Those figures mark expansion, not the launch date.