Telegram founder Pavel Durov. Image credit: Getty Images.
|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Claim: An X user claims Telegram has only 30 employees.
Verdict: True. Telegram founder Pavel Durov told right-wing-leaning journalist Tucker Carlson that his team comprises 30 engineers without a human resource department. Credible media outlets have reported the founder’s revelation and mentioned that experts criticised the small-working frame compared with its complicated operations.
Full Text
Telegram is a cloud-based social media platform meant for instant messaging interaction. It was launched in 2013 and now has over 950 million users.
Recently, an X user, @_TooThpasTe___ claimed the $30 billion tech company has only 30 employees who manage its operations, without a human resource department or campaign advertisements.
“Telegram, a $30 billion social media platform with about 1 Billion users, has only 30 employees. No HR, no ads,” the X user wrote.
As of Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025, the post has generated 45 comments, 3,700 comments, 21,000 likes and 1,200 bookmarks.
In reaction to the post, some X users believed its veracity, while some counteracted the claim.
“Is it true bro? Can’t believe it?” @NiwaRodgers thought incredulously.
“Lied about the 30 employees,” Itzpelumi wrote.
“This is absolutely something I did not know about,” @DonaldMakhasane asserted.
Due to the sensitive nature of the post and its tendency to become viral, DUBAWA decided to verify its credibility.
Verification
DUBAWA conducted a keyword search and came across an interview between Tucker Carlson, an American conservative political commentator, and Pavel Durov, Telegram’s founder.
During the interview, Pavel highlighted why his tech company did not engage private investors during the early stages of Telegram’s development. He explained that he values his freedom and independence moreover, since no one was permitted to own the company’s equity— a type of investment that can be converted into cash— it only enhanced efficiency.
While citing an example of himself as Telegram’s sole owner, manager, and product designer, he mentioned that his tech enterprise is run without a human resource department and only 30 engineers.
“I think, myself as a sole owner, director, product manager, and that period of time of development, allowed us to move faster. I still come up with most of the features. I still work with every engineer and every designer who is implementing these features. I am the only product manager because this is the way I can contribute,” Pavel revealed.
“…We started a platform where we hold contests for engineers. It is actually called contest.com. And we select the best of the best engineers as a result of the competitions that we organise. Then maybe they can join our team, which is just about 30 engineers,” The Telegram founder further informed.
TechCrunch also reported a similar narrative and added that tech experts criticised Pavel for managing such a complex and sensitive tech enterprise with a small team structure.
Fudzilla also reported a similar account.
Conclusion
The claim is true, as Telegram founder Pavel was reported to have revealed this.
