It's nice to see their reasoning, but the issue remains: Telegram can read most direct messages (because almost no one uses private chats) and everything sent in groups.

It's a good service and in some cases it can compete with Matrix, Signal, etc, but most direct chats and all groups have no privacy from Telegram (and anyone with access to their servers).

What a bizarre explanation. Element does E2EE just fine, with the caveat that you have to record your own encryption keys. But if you want E2EE and backups, what would you expect?