Signal is legit. The entire stack is open source, and messages are E2EE.

Telegram is connected to Eastern European and the Middle Eastern countries and not in a good way, and the server-side components are closed source. There is no E2EE by default.

Counterpoint: I have. Although Telegram is less popular in the US. I try to get all my friends using Signal.

I prefer to keep the contents of my message secure from the panopticon.

My family uses it to communicate on devices that don't support iMessage (mainly Windows and Linux installs) because it's one of the precious few cross-platform messengers that doesn't treat desktop users as second class or as an afterthought.

Maybe that's regional but here in Spain it's very popular for clubs. We use it for our makerspace and also for several other clubs. The moderation and access tools are way better than WhatsApp's.

It's not end to end encrypted but for big group channels that anyone can join that doesn't really matter.

Here it's all WhatsApp and Telegram. iMessage isn't really a thing at all except for expats. Because most locals use smarties. I don't accept sms or rcs either.

> Or Signal

It's kind of hard to hash out what you're saying here

There's a few communities that use Telegram because it seems to be one of the few that is both generally usable by the average person and by default has at least a little respect for separating your online identity from your real life identity. Which is sad because I agree it's a bit of a dumpster fire when it comes to security and privacy beyond that.

There's at least millions of such persons

> I've never seen a legit good hearted person ever use Telegram. It's usually what grifters and scammers prefer to use. Or Signal.

TIL I'm not a legit good hearted person.

Guess I'll remove myself from the organ donation registry.