This isn't necessarily true - that's basically the problem with monopolies and the point of anti-trust. The network effect really can entrench an inferior product.
MMS messages are hot garbage but they're still better than a lot of alternatives because everyone with a phone can receive them.
They could just run it as a paid service again? They had a minimal annual charge before the Facebook acquisition and probably could have raised that, instead Facebook made it "free" which should have been a warning sign of things to come.
Friendly reminder that encryption is more than E2E-encryption despite what certain people on HN thinks.
Telegram is encrypted point-to-point by default. Same as banks, modern mail etc.
Can we stop spreading technical misinformation now, please? There's plenty of other issues with Telegram and if we stop crying wolf over the neighbors grand danois people might actually believe us when there is an actual wolf.
I've used the Signal app and it's a bug fest. Telegram is not even encrypted by default and there is no option for encrypted groups.