How many people do you know who use Telegram “because it is secure and encrypted”?
The problem is that this is technically incorrect.
Fact:
Telegram operates with a two-chat system: Cloud Chat, which is the default, and in which the keys are saved on Telegram servers - meaning that Telegram can read your messages. The second type is Secret Chat, which is actually encrypted, but must be activated manually.
The worst?
Since Pavel Durov’s arrest in 2024, Telegram has agreed to share user data with legal authorities upon request, including username, IP address, and time.
What about groups?
All group messages without full encryption. Secret Chat does not work in groups at all.
And the most dangerous:
An independent investigation in 2025 revealed that parts of Telegram’s infrastructure were run by companies with close ties to the Russian intelligence service, the FSB.
Telegram is not a privacy app — it is a convenient social media app, and the “security” slogan is just marketing.
Real alternatives: Signal/ Matrix/ SimpleX/
You’re right that Secret Chat isn’t new — and I never claimed it was. The point is that default chats are NOT encrypted, and most users never touch Secret Chat. Knowing a feature exists ≠ using it. The “reveal” is for the average user who thinks Telegram = privacy by default. That’s the real problem.
Telegram never claimed the default E2E exists. Nor it never ever suggested that in advertisings. They only stated that the protocol payload in non-secret chats is secure in traffic between open-source clients and their cloud, if ever monitored (e.g. MITM).
Those “average” who assume security don’t need security but common sense and do their manual research prior trust random articles and “reveals” like yours, and this is what you should teach for if you have time for it and desire; this would at least be actually appreciated, valued, and make a dear change in the infinitely magnificent world, dear @archipc@lemmy.ml …
If you will ever be actually interested, please check the following: