Telegram launches $50K content creator contest to embarrass a 'desperate' WhatsApp

Telegram throws down the gauntlet with its first-ever content creator contest, and all that’s required to claim the $50,000 grand prize is to slam rival messaging platform WhatsApp in the process.

The encrypted messaging app’s founder Pavel Durov posted details about the content on his many Telegram channels, both in Russian and in English, this past week.

“The goal is simple: create a viral video showing how Telegram has always been years ahead of its cheap copycat — WhatsApp,” Durov wrote.

It appears the idea for the contest, which ends May 26th, was triggered by what Durov called a recent “smear campaign” against the Telegram platform – run by none other than its biggest competitor, WhatsApp.

“We’ve caught WhatsApp running smear PR campaigns against Telegram, so it’s only fair we hit back. No more playing nice — gloves off now,” Durov said, highlighting a post geared towards his Russian-speaking audience with a boxing glove emoji.

“It’s time to wake WhatsApp users up. They’re trapped in the past, using late, watered-down versions of innovations Telegram pioneered long before,” he said.

Durov, calling his competitor “desperate” in Russian, further charged that WhatsApp has even begun to "advertise themselves in Telegram channels."

“Before that, they published commissioned articles mainly in the Western press. It would be better if they spent billions of their marketing budget, directed against us, on innovations,” he wrote.

“Telegram is technologically years ahead of WhatsApp — and every month this gap only grows,” Durov added.

The contest rules

Open to “everyone,” the contest asks that the video “highlights the innovation leadership of Telegram" compared to its rival by showcasing how the Dubai-based app already had a slew of cutting-edge features "years before" the Meta-owned WhatsApp "copied or adopted them.”

Cybernews has reached out to Meta for comment but has not heard back at the time of this report.

“We’re not worried about WhatsApp trying to catch up with us — we’re too far ahead.”

- Pavel Durov, Founder of Telegram

The platform is providing would-be contestants a sample of 30 key features it claims were “introduced” on Telegram way before “our green rival” WhatsApp cloned them.

“Obviously, this list isn’t exhaustive,” Telegram said, adding that to list all of them “would take dozens of slides.”

According to Telegram, the video submission guidelines are as follows:

• All on-screen text and spoken content must be in English.
• Your video must be no longer than 180 seconds.
• You can get inspired by the materials we’ve provided.
• You may use Al tools as a supplementary aid.

Telegram said it will be evaluating each video using a variety of criteria, such as clarity, visual impact, meme potential, and virality.

The video should also be short-form friendly, and content creators should expect their submissions to be posted on platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, and other short-form vertical formats, Telegram noted.

Set to end “23:59 Dubai time @ May 26th, 2025,” Telegram said it will provide more information on how to submit entries closer to the deadline.

The winner will be announced sometime in June. Content creators can check out all the details here.