{"registry_version":"2026.1025.387","generated_at":"2026-10-25T06:27:00Z","content_sha256":"089d16f627d9365e3d0663cc8069203706d7cb23a76c332226e29686968811a5","signed":true,"signature":{"key_id":"ed25519:74ca19268e364242","algorithm":"ed25519","expires_at":"2026-11-24T06:27:09Z","expired":false,"manifest":"/registry/manifest.json"},"id":"telegram/bot","name":"Telegram Bot (Bot API)","status":"researched","last_verified":null,"last_researched":"2026-10-25","disclaimer":"Plain-English summary of the provider’s rules and of what people report. Not legal advice.","terms":[{"kind":"rules_say","kind_label":"The rules say","severity":"red","severity_label":"Can get you banned","title":"Digital goods must be sold for Telegram Stars","text":"Payments for digital goods and services in bots and Mini Apps must be made exclusively in Telegram Stars (currency XTR), even if you have your own website or payment system; crypto is not allowed. Telegram may hide bots that sell digital goods by other means from mobile users. Physical goods may use third-party payment providers.","source_url":"https://core.telegram.org/bots/payments-stars","source_title":"Telegram Bot Payments for digital goods (Stars)","accessed":"2026-10-25"},{"kind":"rules_say","kind_label":"The rules say","severity":"amber","severity_label":"Can cost money","title":"Required /terms, /paysupport and /support commands for payments","text":"Bots that take payments must answer /terms (users confirm they agree before purchase), /paysupport for payment issues, and offer /support or another clear support channel. Refunds use refundStarPayment and are deducted from the bot's balance.","source_url":"https://core.telegram.org/bots/payments-stars","source_title":"Telegram Bot Payments for digital goods (Stars)","accessed":"2026-10-25"},{"kind":"rules_say","kind_label":"The rules say","severity":"amber","severity_label":"Can cost money","title":"Privacy policy and data limits","text":"Bots must have an easily accessible privacy policy (Telegram's Standard Policy can be used), collect only data the service needs, encrypt user data at rest stored apart from its key, and must not collect data to build datasets, machine learning models or AI products, including scraping public group or channel content.","source_url":"https://telegram.org/tos/bot-developers","source_title":"Telegram Bot Platform Developer Terms","accessed":"2026-10-25"},{"kind":"rules_say","kind_label":"The rules say","severity":"amber","severity_label":"Can cost money","title":"Prohibited uses and termination","text":"No spam or unsolicited messages, malware, illegal or pirated goods, MLM or Ponzi schemes, growth manipulation, or phishing such as asking for Telegram passwords or OTPs; Mini Apps may not promote non-TON cryptoassets. Telegram may ban bots or accounts and may discontinue the Bot Platform or any bot at any time; conflicts are resolved in Telegram's favour.","source_url":"https://telegram.org/tos/bot-developers","source_title":"Telegram Bot Platform Developer Terms","accessed":"2026-10-25"},{"kind":"rules_say","kind_label":"The rules say","severity":"yellow","severity_label":"Worth knowing","title":"Stars economics and fees","text":"Stars received expire three years after receipt; Stars can be spent on Telegram Ads (valued at 0.02 USD of ad credit) or exchanged for rewards. Enabling topics in private chats adds a 15% fee on Star purchases.","source_url":"https://telegram.org/tos/bot-developers","source_title":"Telegram Bot Platform Developer Terms","accessed":"2026-10-25"},{"kind":"rules_say","kind_label":"The rules say","severity":"yellow","severity_label":"Worth knowing","title":"Messaging rate limits","text":"Avoid more than about 1 message per second per chat and 20 per minute per group; bulk sending is about 30 messages per second. Paid broadcasts allow up to 1000 per second at 0.1 Stars per message above 30/s and need at least 100,000 Stars and 100,000 monthly active users.","source_url":"https://core.telegram.org/bots/faq","source_title":"Telegram Bots FAQ","accessed":"2026-10-25"}],"renewals":[],"pricing_notes":{"free_tier":"Creating bots and using the Bot API is free; bots can message their users at no cost by default.","costs":"Paid broadcasts cost 0.1 Stars per message above the free 30 messages per second.","notes":"Commercial bots may sell physical goods through third-party payment providers and digital goods only for Stars.","source_url":"https://core.telegram.org/bots/faq"},"guide_url":"https://verapli.com/guides/telegram/bot"}