Anecdotal evidence, so take this with a grain of salt - I work with a bunch of people from Ukraine and almost all of them exclusively use Telegram to keep up with the news and family back home. From talking to them for a while, it's mostly because it's free, has excellent support for sync across multiple devices (including audio, video and other media), has support for proxies to circumvent any kind of blocking, public channels for news updates.
Honestly it would be better if Telegram dropped the facade of having E2EE. It's generally very low on the priority list of most people anyway, as much as it would hurt anyone reading this, but that's the truth. People are not using it for secure messaging, but for a better UX and reliability.
EDIT: Telegram does require a phone number to sign up.
Actually I was wrong. Just checked and Telegram does require a phone number to sign up. I haven't used it myself much, but was relaying the general reasons why regular people use it.
Yep but you still need to have it staying activated and on whenever you need to activate the telegram app on a device.
I was using telegram for one single usage, which was a group organizing local meetups events for expats. When I switched smartphone I really didn't want to install an app just for one group and would have preferred using telegram web to consult it occasionnally. Every time I tried logging in on a computer/smartphone it told me to validate the login from telegram on my original, now wiped clean, smartphone. I just gave up.
> You need it to register, but afaik it's not shown to anyone in any way.
Then why is a phone number needed to register? If PII is "not shown to anyone in any way" then it should be completely unecessary to provide it to the service. Do not let that particular wool be pulled over your eyes.
Those who need to dissociate with a number have anonymous sim cards in abundance. Costs around $2-5 a piece when ordered in bulk.
That said, such high-tech operation is just a geeks fantasy about spies. When you cross the line where it becomes reality, you’re either a very big name with a sudden drug/rape history or a subject for waterboarding which is the most effective cryptoanalysis tool invented.
While this is a well-trodden stereotype, and it certainly has merit, not all crimes are Snowden-level crimes against the state. Felonies such as embezzlement, fraud and trafficking are often investigated by exposing the digital trail. Law enforcement most definitely do pull those records with a subpoena. It's often one of the first things done (pull all banking and phone records) and is often a key ingredient in a successful conviction.
Yes, burner sims definitely help evade investigations, but they are harder to get nowadays, depending on jurisdiction. For instance you can't pay cash for a SIM in North America. It has to be a credit card or a bank transfer and that's a form of ID.
Ah that's interesting, I did not know this. Maybe this is why authorities are all up in a tizzy over it. Because it can't be their platform security, which is largely theatre.
Honestly it would be better if Telegram dropped the facade of having E2EE. It's generally very low on the priority list of most people anyway, as much as it would hurt anyone reading this, but that's the truth. People are not using it for secure messaging, but for a better UX and reliability.
EDIT: Telegram does require a phone number to sign up.