The "other criminal activity" probably includes many horrible things. Not just a teen selling shrooms. So, I am not so sure that's really what we want.
Telegram published a statement on X/Twitter that they are not changing any policy. The just removed misleading line in their FAQ, that stated that you can't report private chats (which you always could).
Telegram adds option to let users report content on app two weeks after CEO Pavel Durov's arrest
After almost 2 weeks of CEO Pavel Durov's arrest, Telegram will start moderating private chats as well.
this all seem confusing, there's no such thing as "private" chats on Telegram, only secret chats which are E2EE, well even their encrypting is questionable
But terrible handling of metadata. Which is the case for all chat apps AFAIK. Like, even with OMEMO, who talks with whom, and when, can be exposed. Which sometimes is enough to get legal issues (e.g. Ola Bini's case)
I tried a Piracy group in Matrix and there was less than 100 users...and the only active poster was a bot (or honeypot) advertising explicit CSAM related telegram groups for purchase.. just looking at the words made a pit in my stomach
That's the double edged sword with no moderation abilities
XMPP; an open protocol that can be as basic as IRC or extended to support everything Telegram does and more. Decentralised (since it's a protocol), and E2EE through OMEMO or by encrypting with PGP client side is something your provider can't even have control over.
Other options for what exactly? Telegram practically has the same privacy and encryption guarantees as late 90's forums and bulletin boards. If you want to learn nothing from that, keep using a centralized nonstandard service deprived of end-to-end encryption!
Signal is unfortunately as vulnerable to this as Telegram is, as it is a fully centralized service so once the CEO is grabbed is Game Over. Something like jabber / XMPP would be better.
the claims in some media that Telegram is some sort of anarchic paradise are absolutely untrue. We take down millions of harmful posts and channels every day,
Gotcha. Millions of harmful posts every day. That really does sound like a great place.