The app may be causing substantial revenue loss for content providers & operators. 27 Jun, 2021 - 12:18 PM IST | By Avigail Gutman New Delhi: The popular messaging app, Telegram, is fast becoming the leading source of pirated content throughout Asia - and the cause of substantial revenue loss for content providers and operators. Users of the platform, which provides end-to-end encryption, can conceal their identity to share texts, videos, or other files relating to copyrighted content. Given that Telegram is popular with millions of active users, intuitive, and offers its users privacy, it is no surprise that streaming pirates exploit Telegram. The latest Telegram statistics reveal that in January 2021 it had over 500 million monthly active users - 38 per cent from Asia - and it was also the most downloaded app across both the App Store and Google Play globally with more than 63 million downloads. According to App Annie, it is the most popular social networking app in Malaysia and ranks third in India.