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Russian billionaire and the founder of the messaging application Telegram Pavel Durov revealed that his platform is neutral, far away from any governmental influence, and should not be a player in geopolitics.

The billionaire expressed his views while speaking with the former Fox News presenter Tucker Carlson Tuesday, saying that Telegram should remain a "neutral platform".

The 39-year-old owner said that Telegram will secure one billion active users within a year, with the current number standing at 900 million.

The Russian-born entrepreneur also said that Telegram was used by both opposition campaigners and governments but would take no sides, as he was the subject of pressure from Russian authorities for the platform's encrypted messaging.

He also believed that the challenge to free speech was not from the government but the competitors such as Apple and Alphabet's Google.

"Those two platforms, they could basically censor everything you can read, access on your smartphone," Durov said, adding that they had told Telegram that if it failed to comply with their guidelines then it would be removed from their stores.

Durov left Russia because he could not accept orders from any government, and dismissed a question about claims that Telegram was under Russian control.

"I would rather be free than to take orders from anyone," Durov mentioned about why he left the country.

One of Telegram's main rivals, Meta Platforms' WhatsApp, has over two billion monthly active users.

Telegram is popular in Russia and the former Soviet Union and is called one of the major social media platforms.