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Lex Fridman Podcast
Long-form conversations with researchers, founders, scientists, and public figures across AI, technology, science, philosophy, and geopolitics.
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Pavel Durov: Telegram, Freedom, Censorship, Money, Power & Human Nature | Lex Fridman Podcast #482
Telegram’s operating model combines 100% founder ownership, a roughly 40-person core team, and automation across almost 100,000 servers, creating exceptional leverage but extreme key-person concentration.It became profitable for the first time in 2024 through Premium subscriptions, contextual ads and ecosystem commissions, without behavioral advertising or sharing private messages.France’s investigation—roughly 15 alleged user-generated-content crimes attached personally to Durov—alongside encryption proposals and renewed bans keeps sovereign intervention the central risk.