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I guess, given its popularity, Google won't kick Telegram off the store for obfuscating the URL and using an unauthorised (?) API endpoint but I imagine this wi

by ssl232 5y ago

I guess, given its popularity, Google won't kick Telegram off the store for obfuscating the URL and using an unauthorised (?) API endpoint but I imagine this will get them in some sort of trouble.

littlecranky67 5y ago
I think they could do it. In Germany, Telegram is often cited by media as a platform for (illegal) right-wing, antivax and hatespeech. Some politicians openly demand to go ofter Telegram and/or block it. So google could kill two birds with one stone here. At least remove it from the Play Store in some countries.
- kaladin-jasnah 5y ago
  I believe it is the same in the US. Although at the same time half my friends use it at our (critical) communication platform. So it's not in our best interests.
  - littlecranky67 5y ago
    Telegram is basically opposed to any kind of censorship which is IMHO a good thing. Western politicians are outraged as hatespeech, murder threats, right-wing paroles etc. are openly distributed through Telegram and demand regulation/takedown. At the same time, when protesters in Belarus or HongKong use Telgram to coordinate and those Governments demand takedown, the West screams oppression and demands freedom of speech. In general I am pro Telegram, as I think any democracy needs to have censorship-free communication for whistleblowers etc. and to prevent attacks against democracy itself. Even if this means we have to live with stupid/illegal opinions being expressed too.
robby_w_g 5y ago
> I imagine this will get them in some sort of trouble. I'm not sure about this. I bet Google is happy to collect the text data of up to 500 million users with zero restrictions from Telegram's end on how the data is used. I'm not a lawyer, but my hunch is that Google's data privacy policy applies to the official, premium service: https://cloud.google.com/terms/data-processing-terms https://cloud.google.com/terms/data-processing-terms Google might make the determination that they'll get more value from allowing Telegram to abuse the unofficial API. However, they might face some angry customers who are paying a premium to use the official API now that this loophole has been published.

by ssl232 5y ago

I guess, given its popularity, Google won't kick Telegram off the store for obfuscating the URL and using an unauthorised (?) API endpoint but I imagine this will get them in some sort of trouble.

littlecranky67 5y ago

I think they could do it. In Germany, Telegram is often cited by media as a platform for (illegal) right-wing, antivax and hatespeech. Some politicians openly demand to go ofter Telegram and/or block it. So google could kill two birds with one stone here. At least remove it from the Play Store in some countries.

kaladin-jasnah 5y ago
I believe it is the same in the US. Although at the same time half my friends use it at our (critical) communication platform. So it's not in our best interests.
- littlecranky67 5y ago
  Telegram is basically opposed to any kind of censorship which is IMHO a good thing. Western politicians are outraged as hatespeech, murder threats, right-wing paroles etc. are openly distributed through Telegram and demand regulation/takedown. At the same time, when protesters in Belarus or HongKong use Telgram to coordinate and those Governments demand takedown, the West screams oppression and demands freedom of speech. In general I am pro Telegram, as I think any democracy needs to have censorship-free communication for whistleblowers etc. and to prevent attacks against democracy itself. Even if this means we have to live with stupid/illegal opinions being expressed too.

robby_w_g 5y ago

> I imagine this will get them in some sort of trouble. I'm not sure about this. I bet Google is happy to collect the text data of up to 500 million users with zero restrictions from Telegram's end on how the data is used. I'm not a lawyer, but my hunch is that Google's data privacy policy applies to the official, premium service: https://cloud.google.com/terms/data-processing-terms https://cloud.google.com/terms/data-processing-terms Google might make the determination that they'll get more value from allowing Telegram to abuse the unofficial API. However, they might face some angry customers who are paying a premium to use the official API now that this loophole has been published.