Telegram trades privacy for a free premium subscription
The Telegram application offers Android users a free premium subscription in exchange for using their phone number, in order to send SMS messages to other users to verify their accounts, apparently to avoid or reduce costs to the company, but this request is from the company that develops the messaging application, which is considered the most prominent competitor. WhatsApp may expose users to privacy violations, which contradicts what the company always claims to care about users’ privacy compared to other competing messaging applications.
What does the Telegram application offer? And in exchange for what?
While I was browsing the latest messages from the various Telegram channels I subscribed to, I saw an alert at the top of the app offering me a free subscription to Telegram Premium, which is the service that adds… Telegram features Available for free, there are many exclusive features for subscribers, including the ability to upload and share larger files, in addition to blocking ads in public Telegram channels, in addition to other features that include faster downloads, stickers, exclusive interactions, and a better ability to organize conversations, which costs about $5 per month.
But Telegram asks, in exchange for a free subscription to Telegram Premium, what it says is: “Help sending SMS to log in,” which means exploiting the phone number of the user who agrees to this exchange to send verification messages that reach other users, in addition to the user himself bearing the cost of sending These SMS messages, some of which may be international messages, are more expensive, with the possibility of sending up to 150 messages per month, which would put users’ privacy at risk through strangers obtaining their phone number and the great possibility of bad exploitation, including obtaining On annoying messages and calls.
More about: What is Telegram Premium? Features and subscription cost
Telegram disavows the agreement in which users must agree to obtain a free subscription in exchange for exploiting their phone number to send SMS messages to verify any problems the user may encounter, including any fees for the cost of these messages from telecommunications service operators, and also says that it is not responsible. From any inconvenience resulting from others obtaining the phone number or any bad exploitation of it.
The company also confirms that: “You will not be liable for any costs, expenses, damages or any other negative or unforeseen consequences that you may incur as a direct or indirect result.”.
Telegram avoids the restrictions imposed by application stores, whether the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store, on presenting such an offer that violates the privacy of users, by providing an offer to exchange the use of the phone number for a free premium subscription for users who rely on the direct version of Telegram for Android, which The company provides it for download through its official website, and it is the version that users resort to to access content from channels that Google and Apple prohibit access to when downloading the official application through their store.
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As is clear, the Telegram offer, which it says it is providing to a limited number of users, in which the user trades his privacy in exchange for a free premium subscription, provides additional benefits to the application, which is something any user who wants to maintain his privacy must completely reject, in order to avoid many problems and inconveniences. .
