Individual messages can be fully encrypted. But the user has to turn on that function. It's not automatic, as it is on Signal and WhatsApp. He adds: "Telegram has become my primary news source." Again, in contrast to Facebook, Google and Twitter, Telegram's founder Pavel Durov runs his company in relative secrecy from Dubai. "He has kind of an old-school cyber-libertarian world view where technology is there to set you free," Maréchal said. Founder Pavel Durov says tech is meant to set you free
from ms