Pavel Durov previously created VK, originally called VKontakte. He co-founded the Russian social network with his brother Nikolai in 2006, several years before launching Telegram.
VK became one of Russia’s most popular social platforms, offering profiles, messaging, photo sharing, music, and video. Its scale and Pavel Durov’s experience running it helped shape his later approach to building Telegram as a fast, privacy-focused communications service.
The timeline is important: Telegram was developed in 2013, while Durov left VK in 2014 after disputes involving the company’s ownership and pressure from Russian authorities. Odnoklassniki was another major Russian social network, but it was not the earlier network created by Pavel Durov.