Instant messaging platform Telegram, a rival to Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB)-owned WhatsApp, said on Tuesday it added over 70 million new users on Monday.
What Happened: Telegram founder Pavel Durov said the company’s daily growth rate exceeded the norm by an order of magnitude as social media users rushed to try out other options amid the outage of Facebook services.
Durov said the platform was able to handle the unprecedented growth as the service worked "flawlessly for the vast majority" of its users. He noted that some users in the Americas experienced slower speed than usual as millions of users from these continents rushed to sign up for Telegram at the same time.
Durov welcomed users on Telegram and said the independent messaging platform is light years ahead of the competition.
“For the new users I’d like to say this – welcome to Telegram, the largest independent messaging platform. We won’t fail you when others will.” Durov said on his Telegram channel.
Signal on Tuesday said it added millions of new users and faced some glitches as signups soared suddenly.
Price Action: Facebook shares closed 2.06% higher at $332.96 a share on Tuesday.
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