That is the thousand dollar question. How would we know Telegram isn't an FSB front * The CEO isn't a developer * We know practically nothing about their deve

That is the thousand dollar question. How would we know Telegram isn't an FSB front * The CEO isn't a developer * We know practically nothing about their developers, they're all anonymous * The server has access to overwhelming majority of messages (among fellow CS students only ~10% said they use secret chats, and most likely even they don't do that for every 1:1 chat. Furthermore, groups can not be E2EE at all, and neither can Win/Linux desktop chats) * Journalists that went to see Telegram's offices at Dubai found an empty office, and their office neighbors said they've never seen Telegram developers let alone anyone enter the offices https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pg8mWJUM7x4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pg8mWJUM7x4 They did speculate Telegram might be using Dubai for tax evasion. * That being said, we know absolutely nothing about Telegram's financials, nothing official has ever been reported by the company. Yet the system manages to stay afloat year after year with 600M+ users. I'd love to be able to give good reasons why Telegram can't possibly be an op, but hand-waved opt-in E2EE for some clients, is the only one I can find, and that encryption has been most effective in online debates defending Telegram's bad security model.