anna77 wrote: ↑While Telegram does offer end-to-end encryption in the form of "secret chats," it's important for users to be aware that regular group messages are not encrypted.
The openness of code is also significant. Signal's commitment to open source code allows for peer review and scrutiny, which can help identify and address any potential security vulnerabilities. Telegram, while providing an open-source app code, keeps its server code closed source and proprietary.
That is entirely true.
Another thing to consider, at least for me, is maximum file size transferable with each platform... not sure about
Signal but last I looked into it,
Telegram gave me 2GB.
Moreover,
Telegram FOSS is on
F-Droid while
Signal is not...
Running a global messenger with tens of millions of users (Signal) or hundreds of millions of users (Telegram) is not cheap.
Telegram is managed and funded by Russian social media billionaire Pavel Durov, and operates from undisclosed locations. In its early years, the messenger became famous as the platform of choice for dissidents and protesters and, unfortunately, for criminals and extremists, all looking to keep their communications out of the reach of the authorities. Despite its lack of end-to-end encryption by default and the fact it holds decryption keys, Telegram says that to access messages it needs keys from different jurisdictions to frustrate any attempts by law enforcement to access content. This gives a good insight into the original philosophy behind Telegram.
Signal was founded by a security researcher who uses the name Moxie Marlinspike for his public profile. Until 2018, the platform was fairly niche and unless you worked in some form of security field, it was unlikely to be found on your phone. But then Brian Acton, one of WhatsApp’s founders, left Facebook and ploughed $50 million into Signal to help take it mainstream. Prior to Acton’s involvement, Signal was fairly clunky to use, you really needed to want its enhanced security.
Concerning prior history,
Pavel Durov was the founder of Russian
Facebook analogue
VKontakte, which he sold before creating
Telegram; when his government pushed for background access to
Telegram servers, it's public knowledge that he exiled himself in place of giving in, first to Germany, then to Dubai.
All along, he's been pretty forthcoming with his steering of the platform and quite good at giving feedback to its users.
Regarding
Signal, IMHO having sold to
Facebook once, I wouldn't be surprised if
Moxie Marlinspike would do it again -- but that's just my stance...
Further reading:
) were all by Xiaomi, on account of their unbeatable feature/price ratios, and most news and releases hit Telegram first and lots don't even reach XDA-Devs anymore -- XDA-Devs stringent anti-Telegram rules no doubt play a big part here, too.
