Telegram is, I believe, generally worse than Signal for privacy. Both have FOSS clients and offer E2E chats (good), although Telegram doesn't make them the def

Telegram is, I believe, generally worse than Signal for privacy. Both have FOSS clients and offer E2E chats (good), although Telegram doesn't make them the default. Both require the use of phone numbers for identification and store some of your metadata in their central servers (bad). Both dabbled with the idea of privacy-preserving monetization via cryptocurrencies, and both failed spectacularly (funny). Telegram is run by a swashbuckling Russian expat in Dubai; Signal is run by an American security nerd. You might prefer your metadata to be in Pavel Durov's hands than Moxie Marlinspike's, depending on your threat model, but probably not.