The messaging service Telegram intends to make money next year onwards, after being funded by its founder’s fortune. The announcement also makes its principles clear(in bold below):
All the features that are currently free will stay free.
We will add some new features for business teams or power users. Some of these features will require more resources and will be paid for by these premium users. Regular users will be able to keep enjoying Telegram – for free, forever.
All parts of Telegram devoted to messaging will remain ad-free. We think that displaying ads in private 1-to-1 chats or group chats is a bad idea. Communication between people should be free of advertising of any sort.
We will fix [monetisation with intrusive ads in the absence of alternatives] by introducing our own Ad Platform for public one-to-many channels – one that is user-friendly, respects privacy and allows us to cover the costs of servers and traffic.
The goal of monetisation seems to be to cover running costs as Telegram approaches half a billion users, not to create another Big Tech company. The post mentions sustainability and independence as explicit goals:
Telegram is here to stay for a long time… [monetisation] will allow us to keep innovating and keep growing for decades to come… we will remain independent and stay true to our values, redefining how a tech company should operate
The best-case outcome for Telegram is becoming a pillar of the independent internet like Mozilla, Wikipedia, the Tor project, Automattic, GNU, among others.
Making money from your customers, your users is how you avoid being dependent on the largesse of one person or entity. Mozilla has not yet managed to crack it; I hope Telegram does.