📰The problem with "paid channels".

When I first subscribed to a paid channel in 2024, paying for stars to access the channel, I also joined a linked group to read the comments on the posts. After a month, like the average Telegram user, I ran out of 50 stars for monthly access to the channel. However, I stayed in the group that served to access the comments in paid posts. Here I realized that since these chats are linked, I could freely access the channel without paying for stars, and that I could then re-join the same channel.

Now #tips for content creators: Anyone who wants to engage in paid channels should definitely not enable comments, or more precisely, not link discussion groups. Otherwise, subscribers won't pay for access to the channel a second time. Also, don't forget to enable protection against copying/reposts/screenshots (there's no 100% protection). This way, you'll make the channel on par with Patreon pages.

I also created this card so that developers can see this problem.
https://t.me/bugs?startapp=c-50317

📰 The @askplex bot has been unsupported since December 24th.

When I emailed support@perplexity.ai to investigate, Sam, one of the support agents, informed you that the AI ​​had ceased support. This was before the release of the "streaming response generation" feature.

📰 Microsoft Copilot will also end support for its Telegram bot in just five days, on January 15.

On its website, it states that WhatsApp is to blame for this, having updated its platform policy banning the use of all LLM chatbots on the platform, effective January 15. Although the ban will soon be implemented only on WhatsApp, the company is also shutting down support for all messaging apps, including its @CopilotOfficialBot bot on Telegram. Below is the message subscribers are receiving 👇

Only 5 days left!!
Copilot is saying goodbye to Telegram 🥹 https://aka.ms/EndOfChatApps
...But the magic doesn't have to end.
Let's talk in the Copilot app with UNLIMITED chat, ALL the latest features, plus the BEST AI models!

#tip: 📰 Changing the color of the folder sidebar.

🐈‍⬛ By default, even in the #TDesktop light theme, the sidebar where your chat folders are located is distinctively dark. To change this, go to Settings > Chat Settings > three dots, and be prepared to create a separate theme just for this. Search for "sideBar" to see all the palettes that affect the folder sidebar.

🎨 We're most interested in sideBarBg, sideBarBgActive, and sideBarBgRipple, which control the primary color of the unselected, selected, and currently clicked folders, respectively. The rest are up to your taste. Experiment.

📰 Security researcher GangExposed RU reported on Twitter that Telegram doesn't warn users about the potential IP address disclosure when clicking a proxy connection link. 🛡 Telegram typically warns users with a pop-up when clicking on a third-party website, but in the case of a proxy, Telegram immediately connects to the proxy to check its ping (data transfer latency).

According to a source at @tginfo, this issue only affects mobile clients. The source also confirms, after checking for themselves, that desktop versions and the X version don't automatically connect to the proxy.

👁 IP addresses are typically only revealed by the user's city, but for many, this is dynamic. For those who really need to hide their IP address, use a VPN.

📰 New Return #gifts!

🧸 — 15⭐️ — unlimited!

📰 The stable version of TDesktop 6.4.0 includes an experimental feature for blocking users in other chats 🧪 where you are an admin and where you can block them. This feature only works if you are about to delete a message in one of the chats. ✔️ For those who have a so-called «chat grid», there is a "Remember this choice" option, meaning that all subsequent blocks will be applied to these same chats by default..

To activate, go to Settings > Advanced > Experimental.

📰 Gift Crafting and Its Details. 🎁 Telegram is preparing to introduce gift crafting on the test server. This explains the introduction of a second cake emoji pack, which is being tested.

A similar feature exists in Counter-Strike 2, where several items can be crafted into one. In Telegram, four gifts can be crafted into one. 🪚 During the generation process, backgrounds and patterns with the lowest % differences are selected from the selected gifts; more precisely, the rarest attributes are selected. The gift models are unclear: either the crafting process will result in a more valuable artifact, or the art team will create special "hybrid" models.
🤷 It has not been confirmed whether the gifts used for crafting will be hidden after this process and accessible only via a direct link, which will hide the last owner of the item, and will be visible only to you.

⚠️ Please note that this is all speculation from the source who published this, and advised you and yourself not to try to guess. It's better to wait until later, at least until the next beta.

The source's admin, desys, gave an interview to the channel "Дарни вещает" about these gifts.

— What do you think of the Durovs' strategy regarding gifts? Like auctions, for example, or the much-talked-about crafting?
— Personally, I'm not particularly interested in gifts, nor in crypto. But the crafting feature will probably save gifts, because the gifts used for crafting expire, reducing the current supply. The auction system is so-so, because after the release of such gifts, people suffer losses and sell them below cost.

Test server timeline:
- A second pack of cake emojis has appeared.
- New models have appeared with 0% rarity.
- Some developers are buying up gifts, including those with identical background colors.
- The owners of "crafted" gifts were hidden, then they returned.
- Three gifts — this was before, and once, instead of four gifts (studied by madrik).

Source: 💌💌💌

📰⚠️ RKN is partially restrict Telegram on the territory of Russia! The publication "Moscow 24" received a response from a source in the telecom market.

Yes, these are restrictions on the RKN side.

Symptoms: there may be constant "Updating...", media content does not load and/or is not sent. This experience has been ongoing since Tuesday.

🎪 But the most interesting thing is that one of the State Duma deputies, Andrey Svintsov, said that a complete blockage of Telegram in Russia is not expected, because the messenger cooperates with the authorities of most countries in the world, including with Russian ones, and that there's no need to worry about the fate of Telegram.

UPD:

«The requirements for Telegram are the same as for any other IT product or company. Telegram's interactions with the government are good and welcome. But the full range of measures must be implemented. For example, there are still anonymous Telegram channels that post all sorts of nonsense, and these channels aren't blocked as vigorously or quickly in Russia. If they were accessible somewhere in the Philippines, our authorities wouldn't care. These channels publish outright lies and distortions of facts; it's an entire network of Telegram channels, containing completely illegal and illegitimate information. This isn't just about the SVO, but also, for example, financial information. Certain information is disseminated through these channels, which is used to buy and sell shares on the stock exchange, which also leads to manipulation. This is all very serious, indeed.» — State Duma deputy.


«The company's management is cooperating with the authorities, but the speed of interaction and response is apparently insufficient. This needs to be addressed and cleaned up. I believe we should become the first country in the world to completely abandon anonymity on the internet, which is why Telegram is receiving such signals. I understand that not everything can be done quickly; technological solutions are needed. This is development; people need to sit down, write everything down by hand, and then implement it... Roskomnadzor provides this time, submitting documents detailing the complaints and the deadline for rectification. If the violations are corrected, the slowdown will stop.» — The National News Service interlocutor concludes.

⚠️ The Emoji Stake gaming feature has become a magnet for scammers: media reports have emerged that they are creating bots named after this functionality. All bots with casino mechanics are prohibited under Telegram's rules, and Emoji Stake itself does not provide for operation through bots, but rather through gaming emojis of dice, which are still in beta version.

❗️ Please do not run such bots. On the contrary, we recommend reporting such accounts, from system reports to written complaints.

📰 Roskomnadzor denied reports of restriction of Telegram’s work. The department said that «new restrictive measures» are not currently applied to the messenger. This is how the regulator responded to media publications about the possible partial blocking of the service.

📰 Beta version 12.3.1 began warning users about the potential disclosure 🛡 of their internet protocol address after clicking on the t.me/proxy?… link. This was prompted by a discussion in which users expressed concerns about their privacy, as Telegram mobile clients were immediately sending a request to these proxies to measure ping after clicking on such links.

ℹ️ The 12.3.3 version in iOS beta does not currently have this feature.

Photo: 💌💌💌

The «Attach» button in chats has been moved back into the three-dot menu. That’s where it used to be before.

Goodbye — I’ll miss you 😢

Telegram Beta for Android v12.3.1 (6407)
@telelakel | #new_tgbeta

📰 The TikTok account with the username @durov is rapidly gaining followers and has already surpassed 2,400+. Currently, there is no content published on the account. Also, Pavel Durov has also added the TikTok profile link to his Instagram bio.

Let me remind you that he criticized TikTok 4 years ago:

It's unfortunate that most people prefer to feed their minds not with real-life facts that can let us change the world, but with random Netflix series or TikTok videos. On a deep level, our brain can't tell fiction from reality, so the abundance of digital entertainment keeps our subconscious mind busy producing solutions to problems that do not exist.

📰 The first publication on the TikTok account is a photo with a Spartan cosplay.

https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSa8pBe8y/