![](/static/66c60d9f/assets/icons/icon-96x96.png)
![](https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/c47230a8-134c-4dc9-89e8-75c6ea875d36.png)
This is what happens when western people read such articles. They turn into denial. Telegram is basically the safest place in Russia’s digital space.
these people must have been living under a rock
Russians are very advanced when it comes to the internet. They spend more time in it because real life sucks more than in other countries.
Telegram has control over the content and channels
Doesn’t mean anything. Especially for groups who just want to communicate.
has been working with governments in the past
There is not enough evidence to support the probability of telegram making steps to make finding gay people easier for Russian authorities.
Average Russian knows more about VPN than most others because of tons of restrictions. And telegram only helps with that by providing workaround and info about proxies.
Groups chats are private by default, you have to change that by yourself to make it public. There is no evidence that anyone else would be able to read it whatsoever while it’s private. The only danger comes from actual members who may invite unwanted people or share screenshots of the conversation.
That’s the only thing you have. Any other company that could provide a service with similar features would have to be involved in very similar sketchy situations and there is no way around that. Signal doesn’t care about public communication features which puts it into a whole different weight category. Also signal would hardly care to help Russians restore access if it gets blocked.
Not surprising. You’re clearly not Russian.