The number of users for “Telegram,” the mobile messenger app developed in Germany, has gained by a large margin.(image: Kobizmedia/Korea Bizwire)
SEOUL, Oct. 10 (Korea Bizwire) – Due to the recent controversy over the censorship on mobile messenger conversations, as many as 1.67 million users stopped using home-made mobile messengers including KakaoTalk, NateOn, and Line. In contrast, the number of users for “Telegram,” the mobile messenger app developed in Germany, has gained by a large margin.
According to Congressman JeonByung-heon (New Politics Alliance for Democracy) on October 9 based on data from market research firm Rankey.com, the daily average number of users of KakaoTalk for the fourth week of September (September 21 to 27) was 26.46 million, which dropped to 26.05 million in the fifth week of September (September 28 to October 4).
Including other home-grown mobile messenger brands such as Line, NateOn, MyPeople, and ChatOn, the number of people withdrawn from the using the services was 1.67 million. Meanwhile, the number of users for Telegram increased more than 20-folds in a week to 521,903 in the fifth week of the month from 25,458 in the fourth week.
Lawmaker Jeon commented, “Although the Park Geun-hye administration is trying to promote creative economy, it doesn’t understand anything about the info-tech industry that’s at the center of the creative economy. The government must apologize to the public about its inept handling of the matter and stop surveillance on KakaoTalk and other apps.”
By Sean Chung (schung10@koreabizwire.com)
