The grandparent comment was already hearsay but yours really scrapes the bottom of the barrel. Durov was forced out of VK on threat of violence: there are no ties to VK.

No, there are ties, even though Durov was forced out. Durov sold his VK stake to a Russian oligarch with extensive government ties, such that they now control the majority of the company.

https://www.reuters.com/article/russia-vkontakte-idUSL5N0KY3...

You're probably right. Still, that doesn't make up for the fact Durov made his fortune with VKontakte that has the exact same toxic business model as Facebook. He began by exploiting tens of millions of VKontatke users. Now he's suddenly turned on his heels and "he's using his money for the good" by deploying tool he knows activists use, but that doesn't provide E2EE even for the small activist groups.

I gave Durov a benefit of the doubt in 2013, but as I saw their E2EE stayed as a bolted-on gimmick, as opposed to forming a solid foundation, that image of a philanthropist fighting against surveillance capitalism disappeared real quick. Telegram's security model is indistinguishable from Facebook: Parent company gets everything except opt-in E2EE messages, and neither company encourages their use.

I repeat, for clarity, there are no ties between Telegram and VK.

Okay, I agree with that.