Link Expander — Telegram Bot for expanding Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Spotify, Reddit, Bluesky, Hacker News, and Dribbble links.

Some Twitter links stopped expanding inside Telegram which made it extremely annoying when you wanted to send a banger tweet to your homies in the group chat. This bot replies with an alternative fxtwitter.com URL which has a working embed for multiple photos and even includes inline video.

Supported platforms

• Twitter / X using fxtwitter.com
• Instagram using ddinstagram.com (doesn’t work with Stories or Highlights yet.)
• TikTok using tfxktok.com
• Bluesky using fxbsky.app
• Reddit using rxddit.com
• Hacker News using a custom API
• Dribbble using dribbbletv.com
• Posts.cv using postscv.com
• Spotify using a custom API

✨🆕✨ Support for Spotify links!

When you send a Spotify link, the bot will reply with a photo of the artwork and info about the track / album / playlist / artist / podcast / show. It will also send a sample audio clip in another message.

Hacker News links! (not in channels yet)

You can now expand Hacker News links. It will reply with the original YCombinator URL, the link shared in a HN post, and the title of the submission.

✨🆕✨ Bot now works in Telegram Channels!

When you add this bot to your channel it will automatically edit any message that includes a supported platform and replace the link in that message with one of the working embeds for each platform. Your channel subscribers will finally be able to watch inline videos and photos without leaving Telegram.

Note

There is no message logging or personal tracking — your chats stay private.

The exact source code that’s published on GitHub is automatically deployed to Railway and logs will never include any user/chat/personal info or content. You can audit the code to see for yourself.

Demo

CleanShot.2022-07-31.at.06.42.55.PM-converted-converted.mp4

How to use this bot?

Channels

1. Find it on Telegram as @TwitterLinkExpanderBot or click here: https://t.me/twitterlinkexpanderbot?start=start
2. Add it to your channel as admin with the Edit messages of others permission.
3. Send a message that includes a tweet, TikTok, or Instagram URL.

Groups or DMs

1. Find it on Telegram as @TwitterLinkExpanderBot or click here: https://t.me/twitterlinkexpanderbot?start=start
2. Add it to your group chat.
3. Send a message that includes a tweet, TikTok, or Instagram URL.
4. Click "Yes" or "No" when the bot replies to your message.
5. Configure automatically expanding links in your group chat by sending /autoexpand and changing your settings.

Do you read all messages inside the chat?

🙅‍♂️ No, I will never do that. 🙅‍♂️

While it is technically possible through the Bot API, I simply do not have the time or desire to snoop on your shit. The only thing I will keep track of is counting anonymous events when buttons are clicked, bot commands are used, a tweet has multiple images (etc.) to monitor stats to see if people are finding this bot useful.

Thanks

This bot wouldn't be possible without the following people and projects. Huge thanks to:

• @dylanpdx for creating BetterTwitFix / vxtwitter.com
• @Wikidepia for creating InstaFix / ddinstagram.com
• fxtwitter.com / FixTweet
• @allanf181 for creating tfxktok.com
• @fxbsky.app for creating fxbsky.app
• @MinnDevelopment for creating rxddit.com