Artem Kliuchnikov and his family fled Ukraine just days before the Russian invasion. 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. The gold standard of encryption, known as end-to-end encryption, where only the sender and person who receives the message are able to see it, is available on Telegram only when the Secret Chat function is enabled. Voice and video calls are also completely encrypted. Telegram was founded in 2013 by two Russian brothers, Nikolai and Pavel Durov. False news often spreads via public groups, or chats, with potentially fatal effects.
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