Pavel Durov stated that the Iranian authorities' attempt to block Telegram backfired and led to a widespread dissemination of censorship circumvention tools. The head of Telegram noted that the app was banned in the country several years ago, yet users continue to actively use it. According to him, despite all government efforts, Telegram has been downloaded over 50 million times in Iran. People are finding ways to bypass national firewalls using virtual private networks and other solutions. The government expected citizens to switch to surveillance apps controlled by authorities. Instead, there has been a mass adoption of VPN services. Now, according to Durov, in addition to the 50 million participants in digital resistance in Iran, another 50 million have joined in Russia. Thousands of software developers are creating new tools to bypass government control over the internet.#GateSquareAprilPostingChallenge