Telegram offers third-party services the ability to send automated messages to their clients via Telegram messages, rather than via SMS or other formats that vary in cost, reliability and availability.
Telegram's Gateway API (“Gateway”) allows for convenient and uniform delivery of automated messages, such as verification codes, to clients who registered their phone number on Telegram.
These Terms govern your usage of the Gateway API provided by Telegram Messenger Inc. (“Telegram”) and constitute a legally binding agreement between you and Telegram. For the purposes of these terms, ‘we’, ‘us’ and ‘our’ refers to Telegram, and ‘you’ refers to you, the third-party service accessing Gateway.
By using Gateway, you agree that you have read in full, understood and accepted to be legally bound by the terms contained herein, in addition to Telegram’s Terms of Service and Telegram’s Privacy Policy. All of the aforementioned terms may be amended from time to time without notice.
For clarity, your continued access to and use of Gateway shall constitute your acceptance of these Terms and all other terms that are incorporated herein, including any updates or modifications to them from time to time.
Gateway or some of its features may not be available to certain individuals, on certain Telegram apps or within certain geographical regions, in accordance with current demand, technological limitations, economic considerations, regulatory restrictions and other factors.
Consequently, you acknowledge and agree that the availability of Gateway as well as access to and engagement with the messages sent through it may change at any time and for any reason, and we are not obligated to provide advance notice, compensation or explanations for any such changes.
You are solely responsible for all messages sent from your Gateway account and their contents. As such, you must take all possible steps to prevent unauthorized access to your account, as any misuse of your Gateway account, whether intentional or not, will be attributed to you. For clarity, you will be billed for and legally responsible for all messages sent from your Gateway account, even if those messages were unintentional or the result of a third-party gaining access to your account.
Interfaces in the Gateway platform provide a detailed report on the status of the messages you sent, the relevant conversion rates and the costs you incurred as a user of Gateway. These statistics update periodically and may have a delay in reflecting the most recent data.
Services for a given calendar month are considered rendered 15 calendar days after the month's end, unless disputed by you within that 15-day period.
Should you believe the account statistics and billing for a particular month to be inaccurate, you may dispute them. In order to do so, you must believe that the discrepancy between the number of messages sent and the value displayed in your account statistics is greater than 50,000. Disputes regarding a volume of messages less than 50,000 will not be addressed.
Requests for assistance regarding your use of Gateway should be directed to the dedicated Gateway support team on Telegram by contacting the @GatewaySupport account. Please make sure that the Telegram account you use to contact support matches the one you used to access Gateway, as we will not be able to process your request otherwise.
This is the only support account that is qualified to discuss issues with Gateway functionality. This account is not able to answer questions regarding any other part of Telegram services.
In order to send messages via Gateway, you must first add credits to your balance. Telegram currently outsources payment processing for credits to Fragment, a third-party platform owned and operated by Fragment Corp. You understand and agree that your engagement with Fragment is further subject to the Fragment Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
Each message has a set cost displayed in the relevant interface, which is paid with credits from your Gateway balance. Costs and balances in various interfaces may be displayed in terms of United States Dollars (USD) for referential purposes only. Such values and representations are meant solely as general estimates and do not constitute actual monetary sums owned by you or held in custody by us.
Funds that have been transferred to your Gateway balance but not yet been spent on messages are considered advance-paid Gateway credits available solely for the engagement with Gateway and the rendering of services pursuant to the terms set forth herein. For clarity, this means that unspent balance cannot be withdrawn, transferred to a different account, or refunded. Your displayed balance does not constitute funds owned by you and held in deposit by Telegram on your behalf. You acknowledge and agree that the Telegram platform is not and does not act as a financial institution or custodian of funds.
Accordingly, you are solely responsible for the safekeeping of your account and, by extension, any advance-paid credits displayed in its balance. Should you lose access to your account, any associated credits will be considered forfeit and we will not compensate you for this loss. Likewise, it is your sole responsibility to ensure that new funds are credited to the correct Gateway account balance. Should you fail to do so, we will be unable to reverse your erroneous transaction, redirect your funds or otherwise refund your purchase in any capacity.
The cost of each message sent via Gateway is displayed for your reference in the relevant Gateway interface and is determined by Telegram in its sole discretion to reflect changes to our business, regulatory considerations, current economic conditions and other factors. Furthermore, you understand and agree that all prices displayed in Gateway interfaces are to be considered exclusive of taxes. Accordingly, you are solely responsible for assessing, withholding, declaring and paying any taxes and other mandatory fees in connection with your purchases on Gateway, if and as required by applicable law. Without limiting the foregoing, you understand and agree that message prices may vary at any time without advance notice and differ depending on the use case, including but not limited to variations based on the recipient's principal region as determined by the country code of their phone number as well as the type of message being sent.
All stated charges and displayed prices in Gateway interfaces are definitive at the time of message transmission, irrespective of whether the recipient receives, accesses, reads or acknowledges the message. For clarity, this means that fees are always accrued upon message dispatch, and no reimbursements shall be made to you based on the delivery or receipt status of the message. While Telegram takes all available measures in good faith to ensure timely message delivery on a best-effort basis, it cannot ultimately guarantee that the messages you send via Gateway will be delivered or read by the respective recipients.
All purchases of Gateway credits are final and nonrefundable. Credits are valid for 3 years from the date they were purchased. Should you fail to use any credits within their 3 year period of validity, they will be considered forfeit and debited from your balance.
Your use of Gateway must strictly adhere to all laws and regulations to which you are subject in connection with your business and relevant use of Gateway. For clarity, ensuring compliance is solely your responsibility, and we disclaim any liability for violations or legal infractions that may result from your use of Gateway, as well as any fees, fines, or penalties arising therefrom as the case may be.
You acknowledge that all phone numbers you obtained to contact registered Telegram accounts were provided to you in good faith by the respective owners and that said owners explicitly consented to receive your messages via Telegram. For clarity, Telegram does not disclose user phone numbers nor will it intervene in any disputes arising from your possession thereof. Accordingly, you understand and agree that any inquiries, legal or otherwise, about the source of phone numbers you contact should be directed exclusively to you, as Telegram neither provides this information nor permits any implication to the contrary.
By accessing Gateway and adding funds to your account, you confirm that you have independently verified the legality of your use of cryptocurrency in your jurisdiction. You are solely responsible for ensuring that your use of cryptocurrency in connection with Gateway complies with all applicable laws and regulations.
You agree that your use of Gateway and any content you transmit will not infringe upon any third-party intellectual property rights. You are solely responsible for obtaining all necessary rights and permissions to use any third-party content, trademarks or intellectual property in connection with Gateway, and Telegram will not be liable if you fail to do so.
The following details the code of conduct and operating requirements for services accessing or otherwise engaging with Gateway. Without limiting Section 5, you additionally agree to use Gateway in good faith for legitimate purposes. Failing to do so will result in the immediate and permanent termination of your access to Gateway and your Telegram account.
You are expressly prohibited from misrepresenting yourself or your business, including but not limited to the origin (i.e., sender) or purpose of your messages. Engaging in social engineering, such as attempting to obtain information or credentials through deceit or misleading users in any way, as well as attempts to exploit Gateway to perform data scraping or user enumeration will result in immediate termination of your account and may lead to legal action being initiated against you. Without limiting the foregoing, all messages you send via Gateway must be necessary or helpful to further legitimate business interests conducted in good faith. In any case, sending or promoting content that violates local laws or the Telegram Terms of Service is always strictly prohibited and will likewise result in the immediate termination of your account.
Users should always allow, expect and recognize the messages you send them. This opt-in consent may have been previously secured through external channels, such as your website, application, newsletter, or through in-person interactions etc. as the case may be.
Unsolicited messages to users who have not provided explicit consent are strictly forbidden. Should we receive a sufficient amount of reports from users regarding your communications, we may investigate your use case and ultimately terminate your access to Gateway.
Failure to comply with these Terms or the Telegram Terms of Service may result in a temporary or a permanent ban from using Gateway or from Telegram apps. In such instances, any remaining credits in your account will be considered forfeit, and you will not be compensated for any direct or indirect losses resulting from your termination.
Telegram can decide to fully or partially discontinue Gateway at any time, including in response to unforeseen circumstances beyond our control. This includes but is not limited to discontinuation in specific regions, for certain users, or removing a subset of services and features. For clarity, we make no guarantee of ongoing or continued support for this service.
In the event that we unilaterally discontinue Gateway and the range of services it provides, either fully or in part, we may choose to refund your remaining unspent balance if, in our sole discretion, we determine that the changes we made to our services have materially affected your ability to utilize them as initially intended.
You acknowledge and agree that Telegram and its subsidiaries, affiliates, officers, agents, contractors and employees shall bear no liability for any unrealized gains, lost profits, unauthorized access, lost or misplaced funds and assets (including cryptocurrency), lost or misplaced data, fines, fees, punitive, material or reputational damages or any other unwanted consequence that may arise from or in connection with your use of and engagement with Gateway.
Without limiting Section 7., you understand and agree that Telegram cannot control and will not be liable for the manner in which its users interact and engage with the services you offer through or in connection with Gateway, and, by extension, through the Telegram platform. This includes, but is not limited to instances of spam and unintentional or unsolicited use of your services, as well as any other user actions you may deem undesirable or harmful. Furthermore, you expressly and permanently absolve Telegram from any obligation, either express or implied, to monitor, control, or rectify such user interactions to the maximum extent under applicable law.
You accept and agree to grant Telegram and its subsidiaries, affiliates, officers, agents, contractors and employees absolute indemnity and to hold them harmless from and against any and all claims, actions, proceedings, obligations, investigations, demands, suits, expenses, costs and damages (including but not limited to legal fees, fines or penalties imposed by any authorities, private entities or regulatory institutions) arising from, related to, or in any way incurred as a result of your use of, conduct in connection with, your engagement with, receipt of and access to Gateway. For clarity, this indemnity clause complements the rights, privileges and protections already provided to us under the Telegram Terms of Service (if applicable).
Gateway is provided "as is” and “as available”, and, to the extent permitted by applicable law, we make no guarantees that it always will be error-free, or that it will function without delays and disruptions at all times. We disclaim all warranties, whether express or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, and non-infringement.
Accordingly, you acknowledge and agree that Telegram and its subsidiaries, affiliates, officers, agents, contractors and employees explicitly waive all guarantees or warranties concerning Gateway, the data accessed through it, the interfaces and clients it integrates with, the relevant documentation, or any other relevant services and functionalities offered.
For clarity, this means Telegram makes no commitment, either express or implied, about Gateway's present or future functionality, profitability, dependability, uptime, precision, quality, appropriateness, legality, efficiency, origin, safety, accessibility, availability, practicality, value or its ability to meet any particular needs or standards.
By using Gateway for user authentication, you acknowledge and agree that, while we can and will take all reasonable efforts to securely deliver your authorization message to the designated account within our app, we cannot and will not be held liable for any unauthorized access, actions, or damages resulting from users who may have obtained access to another individual's OTP (or equivalent credentials as the case may be) or account through technical errors or circumstances outside our control. These circumstances include but are not limited to the presence of unforeseen bugs, malware, social engineering, phishing, stolen credentials including but not limited to your Gateway API token, account sharing or compromised networks, operating systems, hardware, devices and clients. It is the sole responsibility of the user and the service using Gateway to ensure satisfactory security and integrity of all relevant accounts, credentials, software, networks and devices as well as all actions performed therein.
Accordingly, you understand and agree that our role is strictly as a best-effort facilitator of the OTP delivery and that we disclaim any liability directly or indirectly arising from or in connection with security breaches, technical errors, harmful actions, unforeseen or otherwise unwanted circumstances and misuse conducted by erroneously authorized users, third-parties, or yourself.
We will review and may update these Terms from time to time. Any changes to these Terms will become effective when we post the revised Gateway Terms of Service on this page www.telegram.org/tos/gateway. Please check our website frequently to see any updates or changes to our Terms, an optional summary of which we may set out below.