Today Pavel Durov just announced the launch of their dedicated platform to sell/buy premium Telegram usernames. Checking that list, I've searched my channel's username and it says is coming soon: https://fragment.com/?query=%40kissfm
Going back to my channel to make sure this username belongs to me (my channel), I've noticed that the channel was transformed into a private channel, without username!<p>So telegram just literally stole my channel's username to sell it!
Durov, what you were saying about privacy and security in Telegram? You just dropped its level yourself!<p>P.S. check if your usernames still yours!
It happened to channels and groups that were inactive for a long time. Durov did mention this in a message a few months ago that username squatters were becoming a problem.<p>And I was mad at first but it was equally my fault for leaving my public group inactive for more than 10 months, which is probably why the username disappeared.<p>It's a real problem on other social media websites too. For example, a totally inactive account on GitHub claimed an org name and it has no repositories, no information, It's totally empty and I can do nothing about it. Not even report it so that GitHub can look into it and unfreeze the username.<p>EDIT: I just checked the dates and the channel was inactive from November 10, 2021 to August 26, 2022. So basically 9-10 months. Previously, I wrote 3 months but time flies I guess.
Interesting how many green accounts are in this thread describing the same problem with the exact same typing style. All of them made within the last two hours.
> Until recently, 70% of all Telegram usernames had been reserved in inactive channels by cybersquatters from Iran. This created a graveyard of dead usernames that cluttered search results and prevented millions of Telegram users from selecting appropriate public addresses for their accounts, groups and channels.<p><a href="https://t.me/durov/195" rel="nofollow">https://t.me/durov/195</a>
I know several users who've had their names and channels stolen by this absolutely fucking asinine idea from Durov<p>It comes off the back of him trying to fuck over users with NFT's of all things, which received something like 30K "thumbs down" emojis (to about 800 "thumbs up") before having the counter removed<p>I don't know why Durov can't just do what Discord does and offer Premium. Premium garnered a less than stellar reception, but comes with actual <i>features</i> that users might want (increased GIF cache, bigger file download limits etc)
This is terrible, they stole the name of a channel that was active in 2021! It's not because it's inactive, it's just because it has a unique and business name!
Telegram is a social network delivered through a messaging front end, which is confusing when you expect it to behave like a messaging service. It isn't one any more than Facebook or Twitter are.
I am interested to hear telegram's side of this - they generally have a decent track record, i wonder if this is the case of someone screwing up and not intentional malice
Only inactive usernames were taken away by them (and not the active ones). While it's good to have a memorable one, you'd run the risk of "spam attacks". I am not sure how the proposed blockchain (TON) will work (it's claimed to be immutable), but then this is their prerogative to earn money.
Saying that it happened to channels that were inactive is misinformation!<p>Telegram allows editing post, some of those"stolen usernames" were of channels that were active; i.e. posts were edited, and links were replaced, comments were enabled so channel masters can keep connected with their audience.<p>Those channels were also compensating for the absence of advanced bio, status, and as introduction methods where their links were posted on the profiles' "about me" section.<p>Those channels, as many of Telegram users who were affected say that they did nothing wrong, their channels, though have no new posts, were actually "active and alive", and that their only fault was that they were using some Telegram features that Telegram itself did not respect.
one of my channels is already up for sale:
<a href="https://fragment.com/?query=developingit" rel="nofollow">https://fragment.com/?query=developingit</a><p>I think they've just screwed up everything telegram was based on, no freedom, no privacy, no security!
what's the guarantee that tomorrow my private channels will not become public instead and all my personal data will be exposed!?<p>wtf is happening with durov!?!?!