What you need to know about Telegram, the WhatsApp alternative

Are you looking to leave the Facebook-owned private messaging app WhatsApp?

You’re not alone. Following a terms of service update that now allows WhatsApp to share your data with its parent company, privacy-concerned users are looking for alternatives.

Enter Telegram.

Telegram has been around since 2013, but it's currently having a moment. In the wake of the WhatsApp controversy, the company, which pushes itself as a privacy-focused service that provides both one-on-one secure messaging as well as more social features like group chats, shared that it had gained 25 million users over a 72-hour period in mid-January. The service says it now has 500 million active users.  Read more...