Ability to share a folder

In the beta version of Telegram for Android, you can now share folder-based collections of your chats with other users.

Some Features:
• You can set several links for your folder with different sets of groups and channels that are included there initially.
• Private chats and bots cannot be shared.
• You can share access to a private group or channel with users only if you have administrator rights there with the ability to manage invitation links.
• You can only share folders that do not include chats by type (Contacts, Non-Contacts, Channels, Groups, Bots) and that do not contain excluded chats.

• If a folder author adds new groups or channels to the same collection that a user has used, that user will be prompted to join them.
• You can share a folder with others not only using a t.me/addlist link, but also via a QR code.
• Users without Telegram Premium can create links for only two folders, and with a subscription — for twenty folders. The limit also applies to the number of collections that you can add to your account.

Note:
• The application does not warn the user against accidentally adding a private group or channel to a collection.
• If the collection contains a simple group, then after creating a link to the folder, it is automatically converted into a supergroup with all the ensuing consequences.

Telegram fined €5.1M by Germany

Germany announced Monday that it is issuing fines of 5.125 million euros ($5 million) against the operators of the messaging app Telegram for failing to comply with German law. The Federal Office of Justice said Telegram FZ-LLC hasn't established a lawful way for reporting illegal content or named an entity in Germany to receive official communication. Both are required under German laws that regulate large online platforms.

German officials said they have repeatedly failed in their attempts to serve papers to Dubai-based Telegram, despite support from authorities in the United Arab Emirates. A Germany-based law firm has since declared that it represents Telegram, but this wasn't enough to prevent the fines being issued, the Federal Office of Justice said. German federal police warned earlier this year that the app is becoming a “medium for radicalization,” used by some to target politicians, scientists and doctors for their role in tackling the coronavirus pandemic.

“The operators of messaging services and social networks bear a particular responsibility for acting against incitement to hatred and violence on their platforms,” Justice Minister Marco Buschmann said in a statement. “These legal requirements and this responsibility can't be avoided by trying to be unreachable.” The fine can be appealed.

Telegram Web 3.0 Is Coming

Two test NFT collections of Telegram usernames have appeared on the Getgems website. Durov’s Code found that the mint of the first NFT-usenames started on 11 October. The first collection called “Telegram usernames” consists of 24 usernames, such as erevan.t.me and mmm.t.me. All of them are currently unavailable for purchase. We have only found 1 NFT username in the debug collection. The test buying and selling of Telegram usernames is provided by a wallet, which the TON Explorer service marks as a Telegram Team.

Messages on behalf of channels with Premium subscription

Users have reported that accounts without an active Premium subscription can no more comment on channel posts or send messages in groups on behalf of a channel. A close source to the Telegram development team talks about that decision this way:

“Since the introduction of this feature, it has been difficult to assess the scale of the scams made.

80% of the comments made and messages sent on behalf of channels were identified as spam. Previously, channel and group administrators suggested removing this feature entirely, but instead of that, we have limited it to those who have an active Premium subscription. Hopefully, this will reduce the spam operations that take advantage of this feature, without having to entirely drop the feature.”

Telegram is working on video stickers

An API Schema update revealed a mention on video stickers. Likely, users will be able to create stickers from regular raster videos. We can assume a video format with transparency support will be used. One of the most popular such formats is WebM. Currently all animated stickers are vector. To create your own animated stickers for Telegram, you need Adobe After Effects skills. Video stickers will make animated stickers easier to create, will allow to use camera footage or, for example, 3D animation.

Credit: @tginfo

Telegram Down: Several Users Reported Outage On Twitter, Issue Fixed

Several users reported facing issues with Telegram, the instant messaging platform. The issue began on January 17 2022 and lasted for a couple of hours. However, Telegram acknowledged the issue and fixed it soon. The outage was limited to certain regions around the world, including India. Users reported the Telegram outage on Down Detector as well. Keep reading to know more about the Telegram down the issue and when was is resolved on January 17, 2022.

According to Down Detector, users started facing issues with the instant messaging platform Telegram from 07:50 PM IST on January 17, 2022. Half an hour later, the number of reports peaked at 4,464 and then they declined by 12 AM midnight on January 18, 2022. As mentioned on the Down Detector website, about 45% of reports were about the application not functioning properly while another 36% were about server connection related problems. About 19% of users faced issues with the website as well. While these issues were reported at the Indian portal, the global Down Detector portal reports only 446 reports at the peak of the issue.

Telegram filed for enforcement of fines in the amount of $148.000

The bailiffs opened new cases against Telegram on the enforcement of fines, for a total of $148.000, because it refused to remove content prohibited in the Russian Federation. According to the data bank of the Federal Bailiff Service (FSSP), based on the decision of the Tagansky Court of Moscow dated December 20 2021, three enforcement proceedings were initiated against the company to collect $67.000, $27.000 and $54.000 in fines. As reported, in mid-December 2021, Telegram fully paid off the debt in fines for the amount of $200.000.

Source:@tginfo

Telegram fixed Reproducible Builds on Android

Earlier we reported that few latest versions of Telegram for Android couldn't be verified to be compiled from the official source code, since Reproducible Builds were broken by developers' mistake. Version 8.4.3 fixes reproducibility: we were able to verify that installation packages for Telegram for Android from telegram.org and Google Play use the source code published in the official repository. This means the Telegram developers didn't add any hidden functionality that would be missing in source code.

source:tginfo

Telegram works on message translation through its own servers

The new API schema data on the Telegram website indicates that in future versions of the messenger, translations will be made through the Telegram servers. In the current version of the application, translation on iOS is done via Apple Translator, and on Android — by direct requests to Google Translate. The language of the message is detected on-device. According to Durov's Code , Google Translate in Telegram for Android is used in a quirky way, with a workaround to not pay the service fee, as a temporary measure, while the messenger team is working on translation through their servers.

What technology will be used is still unknown. Language detection will most likely continue to be on-device.

source: @tginfo

A Fake Telegram Installer Is Distributing Harmful Purple Fox Malware On Computers

A new way to hack computer systems has been found. According to a report published by an anti-malware platform called Minerva Labs, fake Telegram messenger applications are being circulated on the internet to distribute the Purple Fox malware. When downloaded, the malware escapes the anti-virus system installed on a computer and can execute a transfer of information without the consent or knowledge of the user.

As mentioned in the report by Minerva Labs "We have often observed threat actors using legitimate software for dropping malicious files. This time however is different. This threat actor was able to leave most parts of the attack under the radar by separating the attack into several small files, most of which had very low detection rates by AV engines, with the final stage leading to Purple Fox rootkit infection." The malicious Telegram installer is a compiled AutoIt script and is floating on the internet with the name "Telegram Desktop.exe" and hence, users are advised to beware.

Russian court fines Google, Telegram

A Moscow court on Monday ordered fresh fines for US tech giant Google and Russian-founded encrypted messaging service Telegram, accusing the companies of not removing illegal content. Telegram was fined four million rubles (49,440 euros) and Google two million rubles, the court's press service said on its Telegram channel. It did not disclose the exact nature of their offences.

Russia has piled fines on the world's biggest tech companies in recent months, with authorities accusing them of not moderating their content properly and interfering in the country's affairs. Facebook, Twitter, Google and other foreign tech giants have received fines of up to tens of millions of rubles in recent years. Telegram, was founded by Russian brothers Pavel and Nikolai Durov, who are based outside the country.

Telegram Reached 1 Billion Downloads

Wire is a cloud-based instant messaging and broadcasting service provided by the not-for-profit company Telegram LLC, a limited liability company based in Dubai, founded by a Russian entrepreneur. Pavel Durov Back in 2013, when its first version was released on the eve of 15 August of the same year.

Under Zuckerberg, What particularly affected WhatsApp, the most used instant messaging system in the world to date, was a real panacea for Durov, who took advantage of Palo Alto’s troubled times to grab new users. When WhatsApp stopped working for 6 very long hours in early October, in fact, almost the whole world started communicating via Telegram, this time (except for traditional SMS) able to connect with friends The only way to be (even if, a phone call would have been useful to everyone…)

And of course Durov and his ads quickly took advantage of the situation, saying, among other things, that Telegram is the safest messaging app to take refuge in when things aren’t going well elsewhere. Whether this is the case or not, the result has been what Telegram and its team of developers have always dreamed of: reaching one billion downloads and surpassing it! And so it was. At least with respect to the Android version, which according to the data released by Google Play Store, has entered the club of Big Downloaders.

Certainly nothing to do with the results achieved by Facebook and WhatsApp over the years, but certainly the Zuckerberg-owned social media giants benefited greatly from most of their years of experience and above all given the fact That they were born a few years ago. But Telegram deserves this success and continues to be: its journey over the years has been marred by continuous improvements and updates, which have made it one of the most popular applications especially by users, who use it extensively for work purposes. Very happy with the work of Telegram developer team.

Sponsored messages requirements in Telegram

A Russian channel called Durov's Code found out about upcoming requirements for sponsored messages in Telegram. The rules are going to be distinctively strict and are aimed to allow only high quality promotions.

Advertising requirements:

• Sponsored messages can contain only text.
• Maximum post length — 160 symbols.
• The post mustn't contain external links.
• Only a single post per channel which is going to be displayed at the bottom after reading all the recent posts of the channel.
• Moderation rules and requirements will be way more strict compared to other platforms.

Assigning a new owner of a group or channel when deleting the previous account

The Telegram Team Twitter account wrote about a new protocol that has been introduced into the messenger, responsible for the transfer of ownership rights over a channel or group chat. This process occurs if the account of their former owner was deleted.

Transfer of rights in channels

• Ownership is transferred to one of the administrators who has permission to publish messages.
• The presence of other rights increases the likelihood of transfer.
• If the administrator cannot publish messages, he won't be able to become the new owner of the channel.

Transfer of rights in groups

• The key factor is the right to add new administrators.
• The presence of other rights increases the chances for the property transfer.
• If there are no administrators left in the group, the participant who joined the chat before the others can become the owner.

The protocol also has nuances: the system may not transfer ownership for security reasons.

Credit: @tginfo

Telegram Group vs Telegram Channel; What's the Difference?

Telegram is one of the most popular instant messaging apps, giving Facebook-owned WhatsApp healthy competition. The app offers almost all the features found in WhatsApp for effective communication. Apart from direct chats with your contacts, you can join two types of communities on Telegram: Telegram Channels and Telegram Groups. They are similar to WhatsApp Groups and Broadcast Lists. Take a look at what these are, how they differ from each other, and which one is best for you.

What Is a Telegram Channel?

A Telegram Channel allows you to broadcast your message to a large number of subscribers.
There are no limitations on how many people can join a Channel, but they cannot interact with each other. Telegram Channel admins are the only ones with the right to post one-way messages.

What Is a Telegram Group?

A Telegram Group, on the other hand, is just like any other messaging app group. All Group participants can communicate with each other in the Group and share multimedia files, while the admin holds the right to restrict member's interaction.

Types of Telegram Channels and Groups

Telegram Channels and Groups can both be public or private. As the name suggests, public Groups and Channels are easily accessible by searching their username in the search bar, while you can join private Groups and Channels only via an invite link. Owners and admins are the only ones with access to the Group joining link.

Telegram Channels vs. Groups: 7 Differences

Now that you're familiar with Telegram Channels and Groups, let's look at a few of their differences...

1. Accessing the Profiles of Your Fellow Members

Telegram Channels are more private when it comes to other members' information since you cannot see their profiles. Even if someone from your contact list belongs to the same Channel, you can't find out. Telegram Groups, on the other hand, are more public in this regard. Whether or not someone is on your contacts list, you can easily access their profile. You can interact with them in the Group and message them privately as well. However, it depends on the privacy settings on the account that you want to connect to.

2. Rights You Have as an Admin

As an admin of a Telegram Channel, you can post any message, add or remove any member from the Channel, and terminate the Channel at any time. Almost no interaction between members means that all you need to do is update your Channel regularly.

However, an increase in member interaction in the Telegram Group increases the workload for admins. You will have to manage spam properly, remove members breaking the rules, respond to members' requests in direct messages, and maintain a healthy environment within your Group. Both Telegram Groups and Channels allow you to change your visibility from anonymous to your username and vice versa.

3. Access to Old Chat History

Every member of the Channel has had access to the whole Channel chat since its creation. In this way, new members can check past conversations and documents if they wish. New members to Telegram Groups can also access old chats. However, the admin can choose to restrict access to prevent new users from accessing older messages.

4. Number of Members

Any Telegram Channel can have an unlimited number of participants, and members are called subscribers. Initially, you can only have 200 members in a Telegram Group, but if you upgrade it to a super group, you can have up to 200000 members.

5. Determining the Engagement

Every message in a Telegram Channel has an eye button at the lower right corner showing how many subscribers have viewed it. Depending on the average message views and subscriber count, you can determine how active a community is. This number is extremely important if you run a branded community and get regular promotional offers from companies and organizations.

As a Telegram Channel administrator, this number gives you a clear picture of your Channel's performance. Based on this metric, you can also plan the growth of your community. On the other hand, it's hard to gauge the engagement of a Group as you cannot determine how many members are actively participating in discussion regularly.

6. Group Joining Notification and Silent Messages

All members are notified when someone joins a Telegram Group; joining a Telegram Channel remains secret and only Channel admins can see. Telegram's Channel administrators can send silent messages to their subscribers, which isn't possible in Groups. Silent messages, as the name implies, are those received without any notification sound. It's handy for sending urgent messages to recipients who are in a different time zone without disturbing them. Simply press the notification bell next to the message box in the Telegram Channel to send a silent message.

7. Getting Feedback

While you can receive feedback from your community via Telegram Groups, but there is no equivalent way to reach your community via Telegram Channels. By discussing an idea with your Group members, you can fine-tune it, which is not possible with your Channel subscribers.

Best Ways to Use Telegram Groups and Channels

Telegram allows you to link your Telegram Channel to the Telegram Group directly. Doing this will automatically post the messages to your Group when you post them on your Channel. This way, you can have discussions with your audience, hear their feedback and enjoy the rest of the Telegram Groups features. Both Telegram Channels and Groups offer a range of features that streamline communication between family, friends, and colleagues.

A Telegram Group will be a good choice if you want to have a casual discussion with your community where everyone can share their opinion. On the other hand, creating a Telegram Channel will serve your needs if you want to limit posting content to yourself.

Telegram Group or Channel? Which One Is Right for You?

Since you can interlink a Group with a Channel and restrict Group activity to make it a Channel, why not try out both to find out which one works best for your community? Telegram keeps on evolving with time with amazing new features. If you are using an older version of Telegram, you should update it to try out the latest features.

Telegram Users Can Now Record Live Streams, New Update Brings Chat Themes, More

Today's update lets you set different themes for individual chats, share your feelings with loved ones using interactive emoji with full screen effects, see detailed read receipts in groups and record video and audio from live broadcasts.

Chat Themes
— Choose one of 8 preset themes for any of your private chats;
— Tap the (⋯) button › "Change Colors" to pick a theme;
— Both chat participants will see the same theme in that chat – on all their devices;
— All chat themes have day and night versions and will follow your overall dark mode settings.

Record Live Streams and Video Chats
— Record video and audio from live broadcasts in your group or channel;
— Admins can start recording from the Settings menu (…);
— Choose between recording in portrait or landscape orientation;
— Finished recordings are sent to the admin's Saved Messages and can be easily shared;
— See that a stream is being recorded from the red dot next to its title.

Read Receipts in Small Groups
— Select one of your outgoing messages in small groups to see who recently viewed it;
— To protect privacy, read receipts are only stored for 7 days after the message was sent.

Interactive Emoji
— Some animated emoji now have fullscreen effects when tapped – like 🎆, 👍, 🎉, 💩, 🎈 and ❤️;
— If your chat partner also has the chat open, they will see the effects when you tap the emoji.

Chat Themes

Telegram has dozens of features to organize your chats and customize their appearance, from Chat Folders to Animated Backgrounds. In this update, coordination and decoration come together with new themes for individual chats.

Our designers created 8 new themes that you can apply to specific private chats. Each of the new themes features colorful gradient message bubbles, beautifully animated backgrounds and unique background patterns.

Both you and your chat partner can choose the theme for both sides and make any conversation easy to recognize, even when you can't find your glasses. This way you can set different themes for chats with co-workers and family members, so you won't accidentally send that video to your boss again.

To set a theme for your chat on Android, tap the Chat Header > ⋮ > Change Colors. On iOS, tap the Chat Header > ⋯ > Change Colors. Your chat partner will see the theme if they are using the latest version of Telegram.

Each theme comes with a day and night version and will follow your app's night mode settings – whether you keep it dark all day, or have your chats follow the sun.

These first 8 themes are just the beginning – our designers are already working on adding more.

Interactive Emoji

We love animating emoji, but there are times when even a big red beating heart – that makes your phone vibrate with each beat! – is simply not enough to express your feelings.

With a little code, a little drawing and a lot of dark magic, we've created a new way of sharing emotion in real time. Send a single      or  to any private chat, then tap on the animated emoji to unleash a fullscreen effect.

If both you and your chat partner have the chat open, the animations and vibrations play simultaneously on your devices, so you feel close even when you're far apart.

Your chat partner will only see the effects if they are using the latest version of Telegram.

Our artists are already back in the dungeons, working on new fullscreen effects for more animated emoji.

Read Receipts in Small Groups

Both chat themes and interactive emoji currently only work in private chats. But this update also includes a big change for groups.

Group messages are marked as read (✓✓) as soon as one other member sees them. In small groups, you can now also select a message you sent to see which group members have read it.

To protect users' privacy, read receipts in groups are only stored for 7 days after the message was sent. It is not Telegram's business to keep a record of everything you've ever seen.

Record Live Streams and Video Chats

Telegram hosts millions of communities that can create live events for unlimited viewers. Whether it's a once-in-a-lifetime concert or an everyday algebra class, admins can now record Live Streams and Video Chats to publish them for those who missed the live version.

Admins can start a recording right from the Live Stream or Video Chat menu – with options to record Video and Audio or Only Audio. To record video, choose an orientation for the final video file, Portrait or Landscape. After you finish recording or end the broadcast, the file is instantly uploaded to your Saved Messages.

Tap ⋮ or ⋯ to open the broadcast menu and start recording. While recording, a red dot appears next to the title of the broadcast.

And that should give you enough things to do until we're back with the next update. As always, it shouldn't take us long.

Fake Vaccination Certificates for India being sold on Telegram

Fake Covid 19 vaccination certificates and fake test results of 29 different countries, including India, are being sold on Telegram, a report by Check Point Research said on Thursday. According to the report, a fake vaccination certificate for India is available at a price of about USD75 (Rs 5,520) each. Oded Vanunu, head (products vulnerability research) at Check Point Software Technologies, said there are people who don't want to take the vaccine but still want the freedoms that come with being vaccinated such as access to places.

"These people are turning to the Darknet and Telegram. Since March 2021, prices for fake vaccination cards have dropped by half and online groups for these fraudulent corona virus services boast followings of hundreds of thousands of people.

As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, in India, various state governments have mandated certain regulations for those undertaking inter-state travel by road or air to mitigate the further spread of the virus. Travelers are required to have a negative Covid-19 test result (RT-PCR report) or a vaccination certificate to visit some states that see large influx of tourists.

"In March 2021, the majority of the fake corona virus certificates were advertised on the Darknet. Now, CPR sees a majority of black market activity centered around Telegram. CPR suspects the shift to Telegram has helped sellers scale their distribution efforts, reaching more consumers, faster," the report said.

"Sellers mostly accept payments through PayPal and cryptocurrency (Bitcoin, Monero, Dogecoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, and others). In some cases, Steam, Amazon, and eBay gift cards are accepted," the report said. It added that sellers list their method of contact as Telegram, WhatsApp, email, Wickr, and Jabber.

Information and Broadcasting Ministry Launches Account on Telegram for Fact-checking

The Union Information and Broadcasting Ministry on Tuesday launched its account on social media platform Telegram to counter fake news. It was launched as 'PIB Fact Check', which is one of the few government entities to have a telegram channel, and aims to verify information related to the Center and disseminate to its subscribers.

"Earlier, fake channels were being run on Telegram in the name of fact check. PIB, along with telegram, got these fraudulent channels removed," said ministry sources. PIB Fact Check is the only central government fact-checking arm, which was established in November 2019.

Telegram was fined about $120,000

The Russian court fined Telegram another $120,000. This is caused by the refusal to remove illegal content, which is subject to restriction in accordance with the law. Thus, the amount of fines imposed by Telegram in Russia for refusing to remove prohibited content amounted to $480,000.

Telegram Bot Video Streaming - Host On Heroku, Railway & Qovery

Telegram bot to stream videos in telegram voice chat for both groups and channels. Supports live steams, YouTube videos and telegram media.

SUPPORT

SUPPORT CHANNEL: @subin_works

SUPPORT GROUP: @InFoTelGroup

Features

• Playlist, queue.
• Supports Play from Youtube Playlist.
• Change VoiceChat title to current playing song name.
• Supports Live streaming from youtube
• Play from telegram file supported.
• Starts the startup stream automatically on startups and restarts.
• Automatically downloads audio for the first two tracks in the playlist to ensure smooth playing
• Automatic restart even if heroku restarts.
• Support exporting and importing playlist.

REPO: https://github.com/subinps/VCPlayerBot

Heroku Config Vars:

Website: https://heroku.com

1. ADMINS: @TGIdsBot
2. API_HASH & API_ID: my.telegram.org/apps
3. BOT_TOKEN: @BotFather
4. CHAT: @TGIdsBot
5. LOG_GROUP: @TGIdsBot
6. SESSION_STRING: TGsession.infotelbot.com
7. STARTUP_STREAM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkNeIUgNPQ8

Important Note: We should create only one bot in heroku app account, otherwise the bot will not work. If you want to create more bots then you should create separate heroku app account or renew with premium membership by giving money.

Railway Config Vars:

Website: https://railway.app

1. API_HASH & API_ID: my.telegram.org/apps
2. BOT_TOKEN: @BotFather
3. CHAT: @TGIdsBot
4. SESSION_STRING: TGsession.infotelbot.com
5. LOG_GROUP: @TGIdsBot
6. ADMINS: @TGIdsBot
7. STARTUP_STREAM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkNeIUgNPQ8

Warning: Railway.app may ban your railway account if you tried to play DMCA contents. Its is hereby forewarned that we wont be responsible for any loss caused to you. Proceed at your own risk.

Qovery Config Vars:

Website: https://www.qovery.com

1. ADMINS: @TGIdsBot
2. API_HASH & API_ID: my.telegram.org/apps
3. BOT_TOKEN: @BotFather
4. CHAT: @TGIdsBot
5. LOG_GROUP: @TGIdsBot
6. SESSION_STRING: TGsession.infotelbot.com
7. STARTUP_STREAM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkNeIUgNPQ8

Note

Note To A So Called Dev:
Kanging this codes and and editing a few lines and releasing a V.x of your repo wont make you a Developer. Fork the repo and edit as per your needs.