"Free Telegram is free forever. No ads. No subscription fees."

Yes they received a sizable initial donation, and plan on eventually offering paid for emojis or something like discord did. It's security protocols are definitely questionable, but we wouldn't be anywhere near the potential hackers first target. There actually wouldn't be literally any point in end to end encryption in a public channel. If all it takes to decrypt is to join...... Here also the admins can see our IPs and some general info. I suppose people attach their phone numbers to more though.