What makes Telegram so controversial?

The arrest of the popular messaging app's founder is unprecedented, but is it justified?

What makes Telegram so controversial?
Telegram app edited
Credit: Hadlee Simons / Android Authority

The rise to prominence of Telegram over the last decade has come at a price for the popular messaging app. It is praised for its privacy and freedom while being criticized for the dark undercurrents it harbors in equal measure. To understand how the Telegram controversy came to a head with the arrest of its founder in Paris last month, it’s important to understand how it became so ubiquitous in the first place.

A meteoric rise

Telegram new contacts joined chats