Musk’s obsession to so called Super App has no bounds 
He might try to buy out Telegram at some point.
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X is ‘pausing’ encrypted DMs, not sure if it is something related, grabbing popcorn for X’s Telegram takeover
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I was not expecting this one xD
Free speech-iverse?
Whats next…Rumble?
First Meta AI forcing itself into WhatsApp, now Telegram with Grok. I don’t think the people running these companies realize that integrating AI into short-messaging apps is not a good idea.
Alas, it’s probably best for lining those VC-investor pockets because “hey look we added the AI thing” /sigh
I’m betting that they’re trying to introduce interoperability between Telegram and X messages.
Best way to surpass Signal is to weasel your way into the next best Signal competitor I guess. Even if said Signal competitor isn’t even secure by default lol.
Social network X said on Thursday that it is pausing its encrypted DMs feature as it works to make some improvements.
In a post on X, the company’s engineering account said users will be able to access their existing encrypted messages, but they won’t be able to send new ones. It did not mention when the feature will be available again.
After Elon Musk bought Twitter, he announced ambitious plans to overhaul direct messages and compete with privacy-focused messaging service Signal.
The company rolled out the encrypted DMs feature in 2023 for verified users, but it comes with several drawbacks. For instance, the feature isn’t available for group chats, and only supports encryption for text and links, not media. It also does not offer protections against man-in-the-middle attacks, and your encrypted conversations do not carry over to new devices.
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I will never understand why Telegram users are so unfazed by all the privacy violations this app is responsible for. I also don’t understand why nobody calls them out. Telegram has 1 billion users. Even a small percentage can put a lot of pressure on them. Every time a news article calls them out, they deny it. Pavel Durov has a cult grip on his users.
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The reason is because privacy and security are all too easy to muddle up and confuse to bystanders who don’t have technical knowledge. This is a real weakness of our space that we have to address somehow.
Telegram is extremely convenient to use and takes a long time to take down explicit content, so it has an exotic reputation. Doesn’t matter that it’s not really private though. What matters is that it feels private.
Remember how the feds tricked a bunch of idiot gangsters into using their app ANOM for a sting operation? Micay even had a laugh dissecting it on Twitter. This isn’t much different, but on a larger scale
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Twitter is actually working on XChat, which I think might try to be a Signal competitor
Musk also noted that the updated version of XChat has been built on Rust with “Bitcoin-style” encryption and a “whole new architecture.” It’s not clear what he means by Bitcoin-style encryption, given that Bitcoin itself cannot be described as “encrypted.”
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Yeah a deliberate FBI honeypot and a privately traded conpany which makes a product that you just dont like are the exact same thing.
Just because TG is inferior to Signal, it doesn’t justify attacking them by making up unsubstantiated rumors.
They need to be criticized for the things they actually do wrong (which there are plenty of) rather than some made up stuff.
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I hear you. But I have seen many users being confronted with the truth on social media, and still deny it. I also believe that a significant amount of Telegram users, have enough technical know-how to understand the issues.
Part of what draws them to Telegram is advanced features that other apps don’t have. Advance features that they know how to navigate. They also seem to believe everything Pavel Durov says at face value without any critical thinking. I don’t see that kind of blind devotion from the users of privacy services like Proton, Signal, Mullvad etc… They are open to criticism.
It is. They’ve got a great UI & UX. For people who only use Telegram to chat with friends and family, I can partially understand why it would feel private to them.
But for those who use it to participate in large public/semi-private chat groups to share copyrighted content, NSFW content, or even discuss politics and dissent, I don’t get it.
I remember reading that when Pavel Durov’s arrest made the news, some Telegram groups preemptively shut down. So some people are getting the message, but clearly not enough.
I honestly believe that WhatsApp users are more aware of what Meta does with their data than Telegram users. I think it’s important to keep ringing the alarm bell until more people become aware and voice their concerns.
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What rumors did I fan? What exactly did I say was unsubstantiated? Help me understand.
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it’s the newer cooler version of “military-grade encryption”
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Where do you even see me responding to you? I was replying to Ari_Yaro
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It makes sense to me why Elon Musk would target Telegram. In my experience, there’s a clear overlap between the people that use Twitter and the people that use Telegram.
Both place are over-represented when it comes to males and Libertarians, which is why both platforms are inundated with unsolicited propositions from attractive bots ‘women’ that alternate almost exclusively between crypto plays and no strings attached sex.
I apologize. The reason I thought you were responding to me is because I saw that you disliked my comment.
Could you elaborate on your issues with it?
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Sure, no problem. I disagreed with the cult part and that the users are unfazed about the “privacy violations”. I think they are the best cloud based non end-to-end option, although people can opt into using actual client side encryption.
There are legitemate reasons why users choose it over Signal, like the more robust server infrastructure, superior UX, cloud sync, groups/communities, etc.
First 3 years to implement any kind of encrypted DMs and now this?
Whatever, Elon Musk made that remark about X being an “alternative” to Signal in passing anyways, and I don’t particularly like social media anyway (I do use YouTube, maybe I’ll try Mastodon), but microblogging isn’t really my thing.
Seeing as X and Telegram are kind of both of the table in terms of private communications, this doesn’t really matter that much to me.
There is a lot to unpack here. The reason I used the term “cult” is because from my observation online, when Telegram users are confronted with criticism of the app based on facts that are documented, they still deny it. The Telegram subreddit also doesn’t allow articles that criticize Telegram or Pavel Durov on privacy.
The fact that you put my claim of privacy violations in air quotes, suggests that you don’t believe Telegram has ever violated privacy? If I’m correct, could you elaborate on why?
Telegram has consistently lied to its users by saying they don’t share data, when they have. And they covertly changed their privacy policy by using weasel words to covey that they don’t share data, when they actually do.
I’m not sure what you mean by that last part. Are you saying that Telegram users can manually enable E2EE? If yes, you know very well that 99.99% of users don’t. And if some did, I am confident that most Telegram users would not want to chat with someone who only wants to use secret chats.
My reason for this belief is primarily from experience. And also, because E2EE provides a subpar user-experience to the extent that it’s not available on desktop, and it’s not available in group chats. It prevents you from using many other features that people enjoy.
I never suggested otherwise. The argument against Telegram, from a privacy standpoint, is that Telegram is terrible for privacy. Telegram continues to market itself as a privacy protecting service, when they are anything but. That is the problem.
If Telegram was Discord, which is also terrible for privacy, but doesn’t market itself as a privacy protecting service, it would be a different story. Pavel Durov has publicly argued that Telegram is better than Signal for privacy, even though they don’t have E2EE by default, because allegedly using Signal automatically makes people look suspicious.
That is a terrible argument. Signal has been tested in courts. I would rather be suspected of something simply for using Signal, and have no data revealed about me as a result, than allegedly not being suspected for using Telegram because my data is not E2EE, and Telegram has been proven to share data with various government authorities.
Also, Telegram has been in the news way more for activities linked to crime than Signal. Why? Because unlike with Signal, there is plenty of evidence.
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I should clarify that Telegram is definitely still handy if you’re only using it for public chats, where end-to-end encryption isn’t needed and you have hundreds of members in a single chat. My criticism is of that mentality to lump UX in with genuine privacy, which people dangerously apply to Telegram.
If you’re aware of its deficiencies, then Telegram can still be a legitimately good pick for a public messaging app. But most of its users don’t use it well in that way, more or less