Telegram WebZ updated to version 1.53.0

👏 What's new:
— Introduced Picture-in-Picture mode in Media Viewer.
— Added new reactions: 🍓 🍾 💋 🖕 😈

🚀 Optimized:
— Forwarding to Saved Messages is easier now.
— Better support for web bot actions.
— Supported highlighting for Scheme lang.

💪 Fixed:
— Fixed plural forms in various languages.
— Fixed missing updates when waking up from sleep mode.
— Fixed deleting chat history.
— Fixed terminating session after signing out.
— Fixed system back button in Media Viewer.
— Fixed playing sound for silent messages.
— Fixed PWA mode on Android.
— Fixed opening links to new bots.
— Fixed sharing inline bots.
— Fixed scrolling down when new message is sent from other client.
— Fixed error when opening chat with read-only restrictions.
— Various layout fixes.

web.telegram.org/z

#webz

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.”

#premium

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Paid Telegram posts

Changes have been noticed in the TDLib source code on GitHub regarding media messages.

In paid messages, Telegram will hide the content of media files (photos or videos) attached to publications until the user pays the invoice.

Most likely, this feature will be integrated into the Payments 2.0 platform.

#tdlib

Telegram is preparing to sell usernames on an auction

The Daily TON noticed “Telegram usernames” collection on “Getgems” TON NFT platform.

For now, the usernames are not available for purchase, but The Daily TON noticed some evidence that allows us to speculate that these NFT collections are actually published by the Telegram team.

Earlier this year Telegram revoked a huge part of usernames from “inactive” channels, after which Pavel Durov announced “Web 3.0” integration in the messenger and promised to release revoked usernames on an auction. To justify own actions, Telegram launched username.t.me links.

Import stickers from VK․com to Telegram

@tginfo's app for importing stickers from VK․com to Telegram has received an update.

The app is available for Android, you need an up-to-date Telegram client for it to work. Take in account that Telegram X doesn't support the import feature.

What's new:
• Sticker Import now supports VK․com auth. This gives you access to your library, sticker store, and vmoji
• Automatic emoji suggestions from VK․com's keyword database for a bigger part of stickers
• Vmoji support: import your personalized stickers to Telegram. You can import both your own stickers and stickers of your friends
• Apple Emoji 14.0 on every device: full support no matter what OS version
• Search emojis by keywords in English and Russian (depending on your system language)
• Select multiple emoji suggestions for a sticker

Download: apps.tginfo.me/sticker-import

Telegram fined €5.1M by Germany

The Federal Ministry of Justice of Germany imposed a fine of 5.1 million euros on Telegram for violating The Network Enforcement Act (NetzDG) in 2021 and 2022.

NetzDG regulates the process of handling complaints from users of social networks. In particular, it requires that network platforms apply the procedure for processing complaints about illegal content, and also have a local representative in Germany.

Reported by our local editorial board in Germany @tginfoger

#Germany #fines

Telegram will launch username auction soon

An official Telegram channel announced the end of the development phase of the platform for buying and selling unique and recognizable usernames, which Pavel Durov spoke about earlier.

“Make sure you don't miss your chance to acquire the most valuable usernames and secure your ownership of them in the TON blockchain’s immutable ledger”, the Telegram team said.

Telegram’s Bot Documentation has been completely overhauled

The official messenger news channel announced the completion of the documentation for bot developers.

Newcomers now have an easy way to learn about all the powerful features, and can build a bot from the step-by-step tutorial with examples for popular programming languages.

Experienced developers can explore recent updates and advanced features, ready for 2022 and beyond.

#BotAPI

The unstableness in Iran and the wave of users returning to Telegram

Iran has recently imposed severe restrictions on internet access, and after blocking access to Instagram and WhatsApp, many users have returned to Telegram due to the ease of connection. Telegram's internal proxy capabilities and optimal connection has led to a wave of users returning and reusing Telegram.

These events happened after the death of the 22-year-old #MahsaAmini, who was arrested by the morality police, which then brought people to the streets, and raised the call for freedom and prevention of economic corruption.

Telegram has been blocked in Iran for over 4 years, and a criminal case has been opened against Pavel Durov there.

The editorial team of @tginfoper, while expressing sympathy with the people of Iran, will try their best to communicate with you and hope that Telegram will activate the routing proxy service for the censored people of Iran due to the lifting of communication sanctions by the United States.

#Iran

Telegram announces Smart Contract Cracking Competition

The Task is to identify potential vulnerabilities and issues in the smart contract that would form the basis of the Telegram Auction Platform.

Evaluation Criteria and Prize Fund Distribution:
Bounties are dependent on the severity of the discovered issues and could potentially range from $200 for minor code adjustments to $50,000 for major flaws – like behavior that could bypass the smart contract's logic and conditions in order to reassign ownership of assets.

Prize fund: Up to $100,000
Deadline: 18:00 on October 25th (Dubai time)

Details: in this document and on the official channel.

#contest

The Beta version of Telegram for Android lets you create "topics" inside group chats.

Topics are several small subchats within a group, in each of ones chat members will be able to join all sorts of discussions.

What is already known about topics:
• Topics will only be available to groups with more than 200 members.
• Topics cannot be activated in channel-linked groups yet.
• Most likely, only the owner of the group will be able to activate topics in the group.
• Any user emoji can be set as an avatar for a topic (Premium subscription required).
• If desired, topics can be closed, reopened, or deleted.
• You can set your own notification conditions for individual topics within a group.
• Users will be able to view any threads after joining a group.
• There is a switch for topics management in the chat members permissions settings.

Topics are currently in the testing phase, so there may be quite a few more feature-related changes by the time of release.

At the moment, topics are partially functional only on the Telegram test server.

More information about future innovations on the Beta Info channel.

#Beta #Android.

WhatsApp crashes increase the load on Telegram

Whatsapp did not work (Russian) worldwide for almost 3 hours today. This created an increased load (Russian) on Telegram.

Share in the comments if you have observed problems on Telegram's speed.

#block

Telegram usernames auction launched

The fragment.com platform and the @fragment bot for bid notifications became available.

On the site, users can buy and sell usernames in the messenger, including short ones (e.g. @cars, @fifa, @dior).

Usernames starting from A to Q are now available on the market. The rest (from R to Z) will appear within a year.

As we wrote on our channel @infotonen, usernames will be sold as NFTs based on TON. They can be stored in cryptocurrency wallets and put up for sale both on marketplaces and on the official Telegram platform.

Paid posts in Telegram appeared

The verified bot @donate now supports paid messages. Payments are made through Smart Glocal Payments. The funds will be transferred to the author of the content.

The function supports photos and videos. Before the purchase, the user sees only the outline of the media and the amount of payment. After the purchase, the user will be able to view the content.

Here you can find an example implementation. The function is currently under testing.

Pavel Durov confirmed the launch of Fragment platform

In his Telegram channel, Pavel Durov announced the launch of Fragment, a platform for buying and selling Telegram usernames.

Previously, Durov stated that in a few days, Telegram will give users the ability to sell their existing usernames in the Fragment auction.

"For the first time in the history of social media, a fair, transparent market for usernames is established. Finally people will have ownership over their social media addresses, secured in the immutable ledger of a decentralized blockchain network.

This is just the beginning, and yet an important milestone – the power has started to shift into users' hands." — Durov said.

Viber blocks clicks on Telegram links

Users noticed that the mobile app stopped highlighting t.me links in messages, thus preventing them from being clicked. The reasons for Viber's actions are unknown.

tginfoen.t.me, tx.me/tginfoen, and telegram.me/tginfoen links continue to work.

Viber messenger is especially popular in Ukraine and Belarus and is Telegram's main competitor in these regions.

For context, in the past Instagram blocked t.me links in profile bios, while Twitter used to consider articles posted on telegra.ph as spam.

Paid posts don't work on iOS devices anymore

Likely, it's related to Apple's policies. According to App Store guidelines, digital goods must be sold only using Apple's payment system, which charges a 15-30% fee from each transaction.

Paid posts were launched on all platforms yesterday. They use Telegram's own payment system.

Apple's monopoly suppresses independent content creators and entrepreneurs

Pavel Durov has confirmed App Store guidelines are to blame in paid posts shutdown on iOS and macOS.

Telegram finds it unfair that content creators are allowed to monetize inside Apple's ecosystem only by giving 30% of their income to the monopolistic corporation.

"This is just another example of how a trillion-dollar monopoly abuses its market dominance at the expense of millions of users who are trying to monetize their own content. I hope that the regulators in the EU, India and elsewhere start taking action before Apple destroys more dreams and crushes more entrepreneurs with a tax that is higher than any government-levied VAT.

In the meantime, we at Telegram shall work to offer creators powerful and easy-to-use tools to monetize their content – outside of Apple's restrictive ecosystem." — Durov added.

#apple

Problems accessing Telegram links

The editors of Telegram Info noticed the problem for the following short links of the messenger: t.me and telegram.space.

Some people are also having problems accessing video messages on telesco.pe and documentation on core.telegram.org.

Failures are observed in Eurasia and USA.

#failures