But because group chats and the channel features are not end-to-end encrypted, Galperin said user privacy is potentially under threat. Artem Kliuchnikov and his family fled Ukraine just days before the Russian invasion. Messages are not fully encrypted by default. That means the company could, in theory, access the content of the messages, or be forced to hand over the data at the request of a government. In the United States, Telegram's lower public profile has helped it mostly avoid high level scrutiny from Congress, but it has not gone unnoticed. "Russians are really disconnected from the reality of what happening to their country," Andrey said. "So Telegram has become essential for understanding what's going on to the Russian-speaking world."
from ms