Overall, secure messaging apps are growing, and a Boston-based app analytics firm Apptopia discovered that their growth is significantly larger in countries with corrupt regimes.
The firm contrasted the five most corrupt countries against five of the least, based on the data from Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index list:
Countries in the corrupt group are Venezuela, Nigeria, Kenya, Russia, and the Ukraine. The least corrupt countries are Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, Finland, and New Zealand.
In those corrupt countries, Apptopia found monthly active user (MAU) growth massively surpassed that from countries perceived as least corrupt.
The top three secure messaging apps by MAU are WhatsApp, Telegram and Signal.
To get into the conclusion, Apptopia data determined the average MAU growth of the three apps over the course of the year 2017.
Although WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger are the two most popular messaging apps, Signal and Telegram are both growing rapidly due to having ultra-secure encrypted niche. They offer privacy-oriented features that appeal those that concerned about confidentiality, or living in regimes where surveillance and corruption are common.
Signal soared by 147 percent in the corrupted countries. In countries that are less corrupt, monthly active users growth was just 11 percent. Apptopia said that Signal saw the majority of its 2017 growth from countries at the top of Transparency International’s list.
Telegram on the other hand, saw a 118 percent rise in users from the top corrupt countries. Users from the least corrupt countries grew by 99 percent. That’s a difference of 19 percent.
It should be noted that countries in the corrupt group have a distinct authoritarian bent. For example, according to Freedom House’s Freedom In The World 2017 list, Russia and Venezuela are not free, while Nigeria, Kenya, and the Ukraine are only partly free.
This could be one of the major causes of growth.
And also, Telegram originated in Russia. What this means, Telegram has an advantage of growth in Russia. And unsurprisingly, according to Apptopia Audience Intelligence, 89.8% of Telegram users are likely to a VPN app installed on their mobile devices.
