Telegram provides a free and secure messaging service. In addition to sending private messages, Telegram users can create and subscribe to public one-to-many channels (“channels”) and engage with third-party bots and mini apps (“Third-party Apps”, “TPA”).
TPA owners (“Program Creators”) on Telegram may choose to create affiliate marketing programs, allowing channel owners, individual users and other TPA (“Affiliates”) to receive a share of the proceeds from the Program Creator's TPA as commissions based on the purchases in Telegram stars carried out by users they referred via specialized links. These campaigns are facilitated by Telegram’s Affiliate TPA Marketing Program feature, which guarantees transparent, secure and beneficial conditions for all parties involved.
These Terms govern your usage of the Telegram Affiliate TPA Marketing Program (“Affiliate Program”) provided by Telegram Messenger Inc. (“Telegram”) and constitute a legally binding agreement between you and Telegram. For the purposes of these terms, ‘we’, ‘us’ and ‘our’ refers to Telegram, and ‘you’ refers to you, the user participating in the program.
By participating in Affiliate Program, you agree that you have read in full, understood and accepted to be legally bound by the terms contained herein, in addition to Telegram’s Terms of Service and Telegram’s Privacy Policy. All of the aforementioned terms may be amended from time to time at our discretion, and updated versions enter into force as soon as they are published at their respective web-pages.
For clarity, your continued participation in Affiliate Program either as an Affiliate or as a Program Creator (or both) shall constitute your acceptance of these Terms and all other terms that are incorporated herein, including any updates or modifications to them from time to time.
Users can create an Affiliate Program for TPA they own, establishing a set commission period for the program and a specific commission percentage for Affiliates. The commission period is defined as the length of time, starting from the date a user joins a TPA through an Affiliate, during which said Affiliate earns commissions from any transactions made by users they refer. The commission percentage is defined as the percentage of Star proceeds from referred users within a TPA earned by the Affiliate who referred them to said TPA. For clarity, the commission period does not affect the time frame available for potential Affiliates to join a program from the moment it is created; instead, all programs remain accessible indefinitely unless manually terminated by their creator.
Channel owners, Telegram users, as well as owners of other TPA are able to join the program as Affiliates, receiving a unique referral link that they can share with other Telegram users.
When a user makes a purchase with Telegram Stars inside a TPA that they originally discovered via a referral link, a percentage of the Stars they spend in the TPA is deducted and sent to the referring party (Affiliate), in accordance with the commission percentage and commission period chosen by the Program Creator when establishing their affiliate program.
Once an affiliate program is initiated, its commission rate and commission period cannot be decreased. Should a Program Creator wish to amend the details of their program, they will only be able to prolong its commission period, increase its commission rate or terminate the program entirely. In the event of manual termination of the program, all referral links released thereunder will be disabled shortly thereafter, but existing affiliates will continue to receive commissions for transactions made by users they previously referred until the originally established commission period has elapsed..
Channel owners, Telegram users and TPA developers are able to opt-in to active affiliate programs, receiving a unique link to share with their audiences. If a user opens an affiliate link and then goes on to make a purchase of digital goods or services in the respective TPA, a portion of the Stars used for the purchase will in turn be sent to the Affiliate's balance, in accordance with the commission rate set by the Program Creator.
You understand and agree that your association with us is exclusively as a user of our services, functioning as an independent entity. These terms and your engagement with Affiliate Program both as a Program Creator and as an Affiliate do not establish any form of agency, partnership, employment, endorsement, marketing agreement or joint venture between you and Telegram. You are expressly forbidden from representing yourself as anything other than an independent third-party as it pertains to your engagement with the Affiliate Program feature and, by extension, with Telegram.
As a Program Creator, you are expected to engage with the Affiliate Program in good faith, aiming to advertise your TPA for the furtherance of legitimate business interests in compliance with all conditions set out herein, and, by extension, with the Telegram's Terms of Service and all applicable laws.
Furthermore, you understand and agree that the Affiliate Program is exclusively intended to enhance user engagement and reach for the purpose of facilitating the sale of digital goods and services in Telegram Stars. Attempts to redirect users to a separate TPA, chat or platform for the purpose of finalizing purchases to circumvent commissions is expressly forbidden. This includes, but is not limited to, altering your business model without adequate notice in a manner that disadvantages affiliate partners, employing deceptive practices to avoid paying commissions, or manipulating transactions to misrepresent sales. Program Creators are expected to conduct their activities in a transparent and predictable manner, ensuring fair treatment of affiliate partners and compliance with all program rules.
Violations of these conditions may result in the immediate termination of your TPA and possibly your Telegram account as the case may be, as well as legal action taken against you, your associates, and those acting on your behalf, as applicable.
You understand and agree that, after launching an Affiliate Program, you will not be able to decrease its commission rate or shorten its commission period. Conversely, you will be able to terminate it, in which case all referral links will be disabled after approximately 24 hours. If you manually terminate an Affiliate Program, you understand that all commission shares earned from referrals made prior to its termination shall continue to be disbursed to the respective Affiliates over time until the previously established commission period has elapsed.
For the avoidance of doubt, you acknowledge that manually terminating an Affiliate Program will not retroactively rescind, discontinue or otherwise recoup commissions already earned by Affiliates through their referral links, nor will it prevent future commissions from being shared with existing Affiliates before the originally established commission period (calculated starting from the day the relevant user originally joined the TPA through an Affiliate) has come to pass.
After terminating an active program, the Program Creator may be unable to create a new affiliate program for a period of 24 hours.
When a purchase is made through the specific affiliate link provided for your channel, personal account or TPA, the commission is automatically calculated and sent to the respective Telegram Star balance. Stars earned via affiliate programs cannot be used, converted or withdrawn for 21 days following their receipt. If a user later refunds their purchase via the developer or a third-party (such as Apple or Google), we reserve the right to debit Stars from your balance to account for the refund.
By participating in Affiliate Programs, you acknowledge and agree that you are solely responsible for respecting any local laws and tax regulations that may apply to you, including but not limited to instances where you may be required to disclose all relevant affiliate marketing relationships when posting your affiliate links.
Furthermore, you agree not to use your affiliate link in any manner that would violate the Telegram Terms of Service or any applicable laws. Prohibited activities include, but are not limited to: (i) spamming or flooding chats with your affiliate link; (ii) posting the link alongside media or messages that violate the Telegram Terms of Service; (iii) artificially inflating engagement or interaction metrics, whether manually or through automated means; (iv) initiating private chats with random users for the sole purpose of sharing your link. Accordingly, you understand that any such actions may result in the suspension or permanent termination of your participation in the Affiliate Program, as well as the termination of your channel, TPA, or Telegram account, as applicable. We reserve the right to rescind, withhold, or reclaim any future, pending or disbursed commissions accrued from such activities.
The Telegram Affiliate Program may be partially or fully unavailable to certain users, TPA, channels and geographical regions, in accordance with current demand, economic considerations, regulatory restrictions and other factors. Similarly, the ability to transfer, purchase or spend Stars may not be visible or available for users in certain regions.
You acknowledge and agree that the availability of Affiliate Program for both Program Creators and Affiliates may change at any time, and we are not obligated to provide advance notice, compensation or explanations for any such changes.
Permissible uses, obligations and applicable terms for the Star balance accrued from affiliate commissions are governed as outlined in:
As an Affiliate, you are solely responsible for all taxes and fees associated with the income you receive via Affiliate Program, if applicable and in accordance with local laws. Telegram will not inform you of, nor calculate or pay out any taxes and fees on your behalf. All commissions you receive via Affiliate Program are to be considered inclusive of tax.
You explicitly acknowledge and agree that Telegram will not be liable for any fees, expenses, penalties, or additional costs you may incur as a result of your participation in Affiliate Program, including but not limited to those arising from your failure to properly comply with applicable local laws.
Stars earned in connection with referrals you generated under an Affiliate Program on Telegram are valid for 3 years from the date they were received. Should you fail to use or accept rewards for the Stars you accrued within their 3 year period of validity, they will be considered forfeit and debited from your balance.
Telegram can decide to fully or partially discontinue its Affiliate Program at any time, including in response to unforeseen circumstances beyond our control. This includes but is not limited to discontinuation in specific regions, for certain users or channels, or for a subset of services and features. For clarity, we make no guarantee of ongoing or continued support for this program. In the event that the program is terminated, any accrued commissions that have not been transferred out of their respective balance will remain accessible for a period determined at our sole discretion, after which they will be considered forfeit.
You further acknowledge and agree that Telegram has complete discretion to terminate your TPA, channel or account from participation in Affiliate Program without warning, for violations of these Terms or of the Telegram Terms of Service made by your TPA or channel, its administrators, or yourself. In such cases, Telegram may temporarily suspend your participation until the infraction is remedied, or permanently remove you from the program.
You acknowledge and agree that Telegram shall bear no liability for any unrealized payments, lost or misplaced funds, or otherwise unforeseen consequences, financial or otherwise, that you may incur as a direct or indirect consequence of your present, past and future participation in Affiliate Program as the case may be.
We undertake all possible efforts to provide the best experience of participating to Affiliate Program, both as a TPA owner and as a user receiving commissions. However, just like many other electronic services, the program is provided "as is” and “as available”, and we make no guarantees that it always will be error-free, or that it will function without delays and disruptions at all times. We disclaim all warranties, whether express or implied, including the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, and non-infringement.
We will review and may update these Terms from time to time. Any changes to these Terms will become effective when we post the revised Affiliate Program Terms of Service on this page www.telegram.org/tos/affiliate-program. Please check our website frequently to see any updates or changes to our Terms, an optional summary of which we may set out below.