Telegram vs Messenger

Telegram says it does not use personal data for ad targeting. Sponsored messages in public channels are contextual rather than based on user profiling.

Secret chats are end-to-end encrypted and Telegram says it cannot read them. It also says it does not store secret chats as readable server-side content.

Normal cloud chats, media, and files are stored on Telegram’s servers so they sync across devices. That is convenient, but it means standard chats do not get the same privacy model as secret chats.

Using bots, mini apps, business chatbots, translation, voice-to-text, and payments can send data to independent third parties. In some cases bots may access messages in chats assigned to them.

Telegram Premium renews automatically until canceled, and deleting your account or app does not stop billing. Early cancellation generally does not give a partial refund or credit.

Users can delete their account and cloud data, and Telegram recognizes access, correction, deletion, objection, restriction, and portability rights under applicable law.

Telegram may collect IP address, device/app usage, and username-history metadata for security and abuse prevention, and can keep it for up to 12 months.

Your chosen screen name, username, and profile photos are always public. That makes discovery easier, but reduces default privacy around account identity.

Telegram reserves the right to update its terms and privacy policy later. Privacy-policy changes take effect when posted, though Telegram says important changes will be notified in-app.

Telegram can temporarily or permanently ban accounts for violations, and says it will not compensate users for lost Premium benefits. Reported cloud-chat messages may also be reviewed by moderators.

Telegram says its web service uses only operational cookies and not cookies for profiling or advertising. This is a meaningful privacy-positive compared with many web services.

Telegram says it may disclose IP address and phone number only under valid criminal-authority orders and will include such disclosures in a quarterly transparency report.

Meta collects a very wide range of data, including activity, contacts, device identifiers, purchases, location, cookies, and partner data, even in some cases without an account. This enables deep profiling beyond simple messaging functionality.

If you use the free ad-supported version, Meta uses your information to personalize and measure ads on and off Meta products. This means your behavior and inferred interests help drive advertising decisions.

Meta may combine information across Meta products, and some cross-product use happens even without opting into Accounts Center. This can expand tracking and profiling across services.

Your information may be shared with other Meta companies, service providers, partners, law enforcement, and others for business, safety, and legal purposes. This broad sharing increases the number of entities handling your data.

You keep ownership of your content, but grant Meta a worldwide, royalty-free, transferable, sublicensable license to use and modify it for service operation. This is broader than many users expect when sharing content.

Consumer disputes can generally be brought in the courts of your home country under local law. This is much more user-friendly than mandatory arbitration or foreign-exclusive court clauses for consumers.

Meta says users have rights to access, correct, download, port, object to some processing, withdraw consent, and request deletion, subject to applicable law. These are meaningful privacy controls, especially for users covered by GDPR-style laws.

Deleting content or your account is not immediate: removal can take up to 90 days, plus up to another 90 days for backups, and some data may be kept longer. In practice, your information may remain in Meta systems for months.

Content you make public can be seen, reshared, downloaded, and indexed off Meta products, including by search engines and third parties. Once public, practical control over that content is limited.

Meta states it does not sell personal information and does not share direct identifiers like name or email with advertisers without specific permission. That does not eliminate ad profiling, but it is still a meaningful limit.

Meta can update the terms with 30 days' notice, and continued use counts as acceptance. Users who disagree generally must stop using the service.

Meta promises notice before material privacy policy changes and at least 30 days' notice for most terms changes. This gives users some time to review changes and decide whether to continue.