Is Telegram a Honeypot For Government Surveillance?

Telegram is a popular online messaging app that provides a WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger alternative to those wishing to escape Big Tech censorship.

Per Wikipedia:

Telegram provides end-to-end encrypted voice and video calls^[25] and optional end-to-end encrypted “secret” chats. Cloud chats and groups are encrypted between the app and the server, so that ISPs and other third-parties on the network can’t access data, but the Telegram server can. Users can send text and voice messages, make voice and video calls, and share an unlimited number of images, documents (2 GB per file), user locations, animated stickers, contacts, and audio files. In January 2021, Telegram surpassed 500 million monthly active users.^[26] It was the most downloaded app worldwide in January 2021^[27] with 1 billion downloads globally as of late August 2021.

Telegram has benefited those searching for an app that doesn’t censor free speech or specific political views, as long as users don’t violate the terms of service.

Explicit censorship policies from Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter have led to millions migrating to Telegram to voice their opinions without the fear of censorship.

But is this lack of censorship purposely done by Telegram?

While I use Telegram myself, some new information heightened my sense of caution about the app.

Pavel Durov is the CEO of Telegram Messenger LLP and look where the tech innovator has connections:

“I want to be an internet totem,” he told his teacher upon graduating from an elite high school in St. Petersburg, where the well-known mathematician Grigory Perelman also studied. https://t.co/yTyjBV88Tr

— Truth Seeker 👊🏻🇺🇸❤️ (@Amy21407287) January 26, 2022

Telegram CEO – WEF maggot
Headquarters is in the UAE as well
the Great Eye of Schwauron is over there too. https://t.co/fbj1mDFCgx

— Prof. Klaus Slob🇨🇦🇫🇮🇮🇹 (@kyle_slob) January 25, 2022

He’s listed on the World Economic Forum with our ‘buddy’ Klaus Schwab.

That’s a gigantic red flag in my book since I trust NOBODY with links to the WEF.

As stated on the WEF:

Pavel created two leading tech companies. In 2006 he founded VKontakte, the most popular social network in Russia, Ukraine and Belorussia. In 2013 Pavel launched Telegram, a messaging platform focused on privacy and security. Telegram attracted over 100 million users globally. In August 2014, Pavel Durov was named the most promising Northern European leader under 30 by Nordic Business Forum.

There isn’t much info on the Telegram CEO, but Pavel Durov became one of Russia’s richest men and one of the world’s most prominent young entrepreneurs.

Wikipedia listed brief info on Durov:

Pavel Durov (Russian: Па́вел Вале́рьевич Ду́ров; born 10 October 1984) is a Russian-born Kittitian, French entrepreneur who is best known for being the founder of the social networking site VK and later of Telegram Messenger.^[3] He is the younger brother of Nikolai Durov. Since being dismissed as CEO of VK in 2014,^[4] the Durov brothers have travelled the world in self-imposed exile^[5] as citizens of Saint Kitts and Nevis.^[6] In 2017, Pavel joined the World Economic Forum (WEF) Young Global Leaders as a representative of Finland.^[7][8] According to the official French government gazette, Durov became a citizen of France on 25 August 2021.^[2] As of 24 November 2021, his net worth is $17.2 billion.^[9]

El American delved into his background:

With no time to lose, in 2006 he founded Vkontakte, the Russian Facebook, which quickly became the leading social network in Russia.

The problem is that VK’s influence was so great that it caught the attention of the Kremlin, presided over by a man of the analog era who is particularly wary of the Internet.

The straw that broke the camel’s back was his refusal to block at the request of the authorities the groups that organized the massive demonstrations against electoral fraud in 2011.

Under pressure, Durov eventually sold the platform in 2014 to friends of the Kremlin (mail.ru).

At the height of VK, according to the documentary, he launched paper airplanes made of dollar bills from the window of his office in Russia’s second city, a premonitory gesture, as a paper airplane is the symbol of Telegram.

With this encrypted messaging service, Durov took the leap to another dimension that would eventually lead him to exile.

Recently, Forbes magazine included him for the first time in the list of the ten richest men in Russia with a fortune of $17.2 billion, four times more than in 2020.

“Seeing the growth rates of his company, in a few years he will be the world leader in the sector,” predicts Chépel.

Telegram’s growth

“Telegram’s biggest advantage is that it is a mix between social network and messaging platform. It is the most convenient to use and, in addition, it is a tool for receiving information,” explains Klimariov.

He insists that “there is no other application that has channels, which, in fact, are mass media,” to which must be added the possibility of monetizing them.

“I would compare him to Jack Dorsey,” confounder of Twitter, Klimariov stresses.

In mid-April, the Russian press reported that in two years Telegram plans to put 10-20% of its shares on the market.

“The fact that Durov retains 100 % of the shares differentiates him from other entrepreneurs in the sector. Going public in such a situation is unique,” Chépel explains.

While I’m not recommending a specific social media platform, beware of everything you post/text in the app.

With connections to the WEF, I’ve raised my suspicions Telegram is another wicked tool of government surveillance to monitor us.

Unfortunately, it’s extremely difficult finding social media platforms that don’t utilize surveillance on their users.

Did YOU Know? ⚠️ Durov, 36, is the founder of Telegram, which claims to have more than half a billion users. pic.twitter.com/wPY61WJcZc

— Truth Seeker 👊🏻🇺🇸❤️ (@Amy21407287) January 26, 2022

https://twitter.com/dr_anon0O/status/1486186194631286784

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