❤️ Thanks everyone for your support and love!

Last month I got interviewed by police for 4 days after arriving in Paris. I was told I may be personally responsible for other people’s illegal use of Telegram, because the French authorities didn’t receive responses from Telegram.

This was surprising for several reasons: 

1. Telegram has an official representative in the EU that accepts and replies to EU requests. Its email address has been publicly available for anyone in the EU who googles “Telegram EU address for law enforcement”. 

2. The French authorities had numerous ways to reach me to request assistance. As a French citizen, I was a frequent guest at the French consulate in Dubai. A while ago, when asked, I personally helped them establish a hotline with Telegram to deal with the threat of terrorism in France.

3. If a country is unhappy with an internet service, the established practice is to start a legal action against the service itself. Using laws from the pre-smartphone era to charge a CEO with crimes committed by third parties on the platform he manages is a misguided approach. Building technology is hard enough as it is. No innovator will ever build new tools if they know they can be personally held responsible for potential abuse of those tools. 

Establishing the right balance between privacy and security is not easy. You have to reconcile privacy laws with law enforcement requirements, and local laws with EU laws. You have to take into account technological limitations. As a platform, you want your processes to be consistent globally, while also ensuring they are not abused in countries with weak rule of law. We’ve been committed to engaging with regulators to find the right balance. Yes, we stand by our principles: our experience is shaped by our mission to protect our users in authoritarian regimes. But we’ve always been open to dialogue.

Sometimes we can’t agree with a country’s regulator on the right balance between privacy and security. In those cases, we are ready to leave that country. We've done it many times. When Russia demanded we hand over “encryption keys” to enable surveillance, we refused — and Telegram got banned in Russia. When Iran demanded we block channels of peaceful protesters, we refused — and Telegram got banned in Iran. We are prepared to leave markets that aren’t compatible with our principles, because we are not doing this for money. We are driven by the intention to bring good and defend the basic rights of people, particularly in places where these rights are violated.

All of that does not mean Telegram is perfect. Even the fact that authorities could be confused by where to send requests is something that we should improve. But the claims in some media that Telegram is some sort of anarchic paradise are absolutely untrue. We take down millions of harmful posts and channels every day. We publish daily transparency reports (like this or this ). We have direct hotlines with NGOs to process urgent moderation requests faster.

However, we hear voices saying that it’s not enough. Telegram’s abrupt increase in user count to 950M caused growing pains that made it easier for criminals to abuse our platform. That’s why I made it my personal goal to ensure we significantly improve things in this regard. We’ve already started that process internally, and I will share more details on our progress with you very soon. 

I hope that the events of August will result in making Telegram — and the social networking industry as a whole — safer and stronger. Thanks again for your love and memes 🙏

TADA Mini Launches on TON — Book Rides with Toncoin!

TADA, leading ride-hailing app in SEA, has officially launched the TADA mini on TON. You can now book rides directly through the Telegram mini app and pay using Toncoin via Tonkeeper.

Key Features:

- No KYC or extra apps needed
- Pay easily with Toncoin via Tonkeeper
- Instant refunds for cancellations
- Quick ride matching with TADA's 300K driver network

Experience the convenience of booking rides with Toncoin today. TADA mini is now live in Singapore — try it now!

Airdrops are cool…
But what’s better is being a sustainable DeFi investor using smart yet simple strategies.

Watch the Late Night DeFi livestream with Vlad Degen, DeFi Lead at TON Foundation, to learn the basics of DeFi strategies for 100% APR.

Featuring Bemo, Tonstakers, STONfi, EVAA, Storm, and DeDust.

SBTs via @tbook_incentive_bot and airdrops are happening too, keep an eye on the posts 👀
If you are curious enough, click here.

DYOR, NFA.

Watch on Youtube, X, or Telegram.

👀 Hackers, founders, developers…

This is an open call for you to join a $2M TON Hackathon.

TON Society is announcing Hackers League — an ecosystem-wide winter competition for early stage founders that will begin in October and end with a winners announcement in December.

Featuring:

▪️ $2M prize pool
▪️ 19 IRL 3-day bootcamps
▪️ Key ecosystem projects tracks

Apply at eco.ton.org!

Join TON Voices Live (TVL) with Luke Belmar and Gleb Kostarev

We're now live with Luke Belmar, Gleb Kostarev, and Jack Booth to discuss this week's hottest updates from the TON Ecosystem, the evolution of Tap2Earn, crypto news of the week, and a very special $1K Toncoin giveaway!

Join now.

Degen Meetup 2.0 in Singapore is happening on Friday, Sept 20, 2024

Hosted by TON Voices advisor Luke Belmar, this full-day event brings together four of the biggest internet communities: Capital Club, TON Society, Jupiter, and CORE.

Expect insightful keynotes, deep dives into decentralization, and the chance to connect with crypto’s top minds. Hear from speakers like Jack Booth, TON Society Co-Founder, and Ian Wittkopp, Partner at TON Ventures.

Only 100 NFT tickets are available. Don’t miss your chance to be part of one of crypto's hottest events — grab your ticket now!

The Open League Season 6 is live

Start farming Normie and Degen airdrops now, with $1.2M in Toncoin up for grabs until October 10th! To get started, mint your badge and begin completing target actions.

The App, DeFi, and NFT Leagues are live, with hundreds of projects ready to compete. Big names like Blum are in the mix, along with Hackathon finalists, including innovative DeFi teams. For more details, check out this post.

Let The Open League airdrop season begin!

TON DeFi Strategies for 100% APR — Live Today at 8 PM CET

Join Vlad Degen, DeFi Lead at TON Foundation, and Helena, Head of Community at TON Society, as they dive into strategies for earning 100% APR on DeFi. Learn how to earn guaranteed returns, get airdrops, and claim SBTs.

Don’t miss out! Live in 1 hour.

Join the Global Hackers League Bootcamps!

19 cities, 3 days, real-world connections, and the chance to build the next unicorn apps. Join one of the 19 IRL Hackers League Bootcamps happening worldwide, starting from October 11th. Meet, pitch, and compete in the $2M online TON Hackathon.

Find your city and get started!

The TBook Campaign Quest is Live: Learn and Earn!

Learn by earning with a DeFi strategy shared in Thursday’s livestream by Vlad, the DeFi Lead at TON Foundation. Farm yield, earn SBTs, and unlock exclusive airdrops.

Join the Late Night DeFi Campaign on TON and engage with six top-tier projects in staking, borrowing, lending, and trading. Earn SBTs and claim the TON Society airdrop with @tbookincentive.

Don't miss your chance to be part of TON's DeFi revolution — start your journey now!

ICYMI: Degen Meetup 2.0 in Singapore is happening on Friday, Sept 20, 2024

Hosted by TON Voices advisor Luke Belmar, this full-day event brings together four of the biggest internet communities: Capital Club, TON Society, Jupiter, and CORE.

Enjoy insightful keynotes, deep dives into decentralization, and the chance to connect with crypto’s top minds. Hear from speakers like Jack Booth, TON Society Co-Founder, Ian Wittkopp, Partner at TON Ventures, and Aleksandr Sudeykin, CBDO of EVAA Protocol.

Less than 100 NFT tickets are now available. Don’t miss your chance to be part of one of crypto's hottest events. Buy your ticket now!

TON Events Digest 

Featuring TON events taking place offline and online around the globe during this week 💟

This week is all about Token2049 in Singapore, the largest crypto event globally 🇸🇬

TOKEN2049 Side Events
TON Breakfast Singapore 👉 Click
Telegram and TON by Triangle 👉 Click
TON & Telegram Mini App Builders Day 👉 Click
TON x HashKey Token 2049 Meetup 👉 Click
Vlad and TON DeFi Founders Evening Talk 👉 Click
TON Society HK Token 2049 👉 Click
TON mini-apps: Boom or Real Web3 Adoption? 👉 Click
TADA x TON | First Ride Free & More 👉 Click
Memecon Conference 👉 Click
InnoBlock 2024 (Web3 Innovation Festival) 👉 Click
TON Evolution: Igniting the Spark of #DigitalResistance 👉 Click
TON Investor Day: TOP x TON Ventures x Pantera 👉 Click
The Open Art: Blum, TONX, and TON Society at TOKEN 2049 👉 Click
DEGEN Meetup 2.0 | Singapore 👉 Click
Late Night DeFi with TBook 👉 Click

Syndicate Events:
TON Breakfast in Surat 👉 Click
TON Breakfast in Lyon 👉 Click
Salaam TON meetup - New Delhi 👉 Click

TON Society Global and Hubs’ Events:
TON Society CIS will host an AMA session with Trust Wallet
TON Society will host an AMA on Hackathon and Bootcamps
TON Society will participate at the Ton Eco Panel during the InnoBlock Web3 Innovation Festival 2024