Unlike other secure messaging app options, Telegram does not have end-to-end encryption on by default. Interestingly, though, Telegram has a shaky history when it comes to that. The company makes a point of accentuating its focus on privacy. Telegram’s current boost in popularity is coming from users looking for a more secure messaging app. The team has moved around since its inception and was last reported to be located in Dubai (Opens in a new tab). Telegram is Pavel’s continuation of the online free-speech efforts that started with VK. According to Pavel, he was pushed out for refusing to provide VK user data to the Russian government or shut down a group for anti-corruption advocate and opposition leader Alexei Navalny that ran on the social network. Pavel was forced out of his role, sold his remaining shares, and left Russia for Germany.

Then allies of Russian President Vladmir Putin and the Kremlin consolidated their shares in the company in order to take an ownership stake. VK had been known for fighting back against Kremlin censorship. While VK still exists, Pavel completely cut ties (Opens in a new tab) with the social platform he founded in 2014.

Pavel Durov has been dubbed (Opens in a new tab) Russia’s Mark Zuckerberg, as he had originally founded that country’s biggest social networking site, known as VK. Telegram is owned by the same two people who founded the company in Russia back in 2013, Pavel Durov and his brother Nikolai. Telegram is often grouped with Signal, another messaging app popular among those looking for a secure messaging solution.īut what is Telegram? How does it compare to WhatsApp and Signal? And how much should you be concerned by its previous controversies involving terrorists, far-right extremists, and revenge porn distributors? Let’s take a look. The service says it now has 500 million active users. In the wake of the WhatsApp controversy, the company, which pushes itself as a privacy-focused service that provides both one-on-one secure messaging as well as more social features like group chats, shared that it had gained 25 million (Opens in a new tab) users over a 72-hour period in mid-January.

Telegram has been around since 2013, but it's currently having a moment. Following a since delayed and confusing terms of service update that will allow WhatsApp to share your data with its parent company, privacy-concerned users are looking for alternatives. Are you looking to leave the Facebook-owned private messaging app WhatsApp?

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