Who needs WhatsApp? Telegram is better.
I like that their app is open source, but I can’t recommend, in good faith, an app that exposes so many lf its users by not encrypting communication. I also can’t recommend an app that wants to monetize my attention through ads in the middle of chats.
I hope we all get as many useful features as Telegram gets, but I value security and privacy more than novelty. In the meantime, I’ll use apps that encrypt all communications by default and have an institutional arrangement that guarantees they won’t suddenly pull a Reddit on me.
I am glad that at least we can have these conversations, precisely in an alternative network that has institutional incentives to remain decentralized and open to scrutiny and changes. Of course, I’m talking about Lemmy, the very place where you and I are talking 😊
Whats App is closed source. You have no idea if messages are encrypted or not.
Telegram is enrypted, but not end-to-end encrypted. I like how they have good open source clients, linux support and how they are leading people away from Facebook products.
I use telegram every day and havent ever seen an ad. In any case, its a million times better than using F*cebook.
You haven’t seen them probably because you haven’t been in certain group chats: https://promote.telegram.org/
I can see Telegram being better than Facebook in that it doesn’t feed a unified profile that becomes a honeypot for massive leaks. However, even Whatsapp is encrypted end-to-end by default, while Telegram isn’t. Most people don’t turn it on. I say that based on nudge theory (you’re adding sludge to a process that should be automatic) and based on my conversations with people who thought Telegram was better than Signal.
In the sense of exposing the data of most of its users, Telegram is worse than Facebook.
But whatsapp is part of facebook, and without a doubt gives its data to us government and also my own government. That alone is enough to disqualify it for me.
