Although WhatsApp has put a hold on its plans to change its privacy policy, other messaging apps have taken advantage of the situation to attract new users. Millions of people have WhatsApp in favor of its rival Signals and Telegram. That’s why not all messaging apps are equal.
Pavel Durov, the founder of Telegram, announced that the app had 25 million new users in just 72 hours at the start of the year. This helped it reach 500 million registered users for the first time.
As he wrote in a message to more than 20,000 people on Telegram, we may be witnessing the largest digital migration in human history. Billed as a pro-privacy app, Telegram has been both a help and a hindrance to protesters and pro-democracy activists, as well as terrorists and sexual abuse content.
It’s not yet clear whether people will continue to use WhatsApp or not, but there are some key differences between how Telegram and WhatsApp work – particularly when it comes to the level of protection they offer for messages.
End-to-end encryption has been on the rise ever since WhatsApp made it the default setting for all users in 2016. This type of encryption offers a higher level of protection for people’s privacy, which is why many messaging services have been transitioning to this technology טלגראס קישור in recent years. Some examples include Facebook, which is currently in the process of changing its infrastructure so that all chats on Instagram and Facebook Messenger use end-to-end encryption, and Zoom, which implemented end-to-end encryption on video calls after facing privacy concerns in October 2020. If you’ve recently switched to Telegram, here’s what you need to know about its encryption features.
How do Telegram chats operate?
In order to understand why Telegram isn’t end-to-end encrypted by default, one must look at how the app functions. Telegram has a few different messaging options that can include thousands of people simultaneously. These are different from the one-to-one chats and group conversations used by its rivals.
Telegram’s “one-to-many” broadcast channels are a core part of the platform. In channels, which can be public or private and have an unlimited number of members, administrators send out messages to everyone who has subscribed.
Everyone can see messages, and the channel essentially acts like a feed of posts from administrators.
Bloomberg’s channel (with more than 84,000 subscribers) announced the latest news, while an un-official channel posts comics straight after they’re published.
Telegram also has group chats that can include up to 200,000 members and work similarly to group chats on other messaging platforms. Chats between two individuals are possible and the app features encrypted video calls and group voice conversations as well. (Encrypted voice calls and video calls are the default setting, the company says). However, only messaging within Secret Chats offers end-to-end encryption.
So what does Telegram’s encryption look like?
Telegram says that it uses two types of encryption for content sent on its platform: cloud-based and end-to-end. Groups, channels, and one-to-one chats use Telegram’s ‘cloud’ encryption while only Secret Chats between two individuals use end-to-end encryption.
Telegram says that it uses two types of encryption for content sent on its platform: cloud-based and end-to-end. Groups, channels, and one-to-one chats use Telegram’s ‘cloud’ encryption while only Secret Chats between two individuals use end-to-end encryption.
Cloud Chat stores its data across multiple data centres in different jurisdictions around the world. This means that if any one government or legal entity were to make a request for user data, Telegram would need to receive similar requests from multiple other entities in order to hand over any information. Despite this, law enforcement has found ways to eavesdrop on conversations taking place on the platform. In response to this, Telegram moved to fix an issue in August 2019 that could have allowed people to be identified through messages sent during protests in Hong Kong.
