Pavel Durov, who runs Telegram, shared a screenshot of an old chat message from Mark Zuckerberg, dating back to 2004. At the time, Zuckerberg was a student at Harvard and had just started Facebook.
In the message, Zuckerberg appears to joke about collecting personal details like emails, photos, addresses, and social security numbers from other students. He also mocked people for trusting him with that information. The chat has been online for years, but Durov brought it back into focus with a sharp comment.
Durov wrote that the only thing that has changed since then is the scale. According to him, what once involved a few thousand people now affects billions. His criticism was clearly aimed at Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. “The only thing that’s changed since this conversation is the scale. Today, WhatsApp’s owner is privately laughing not at 4 thousand, but at 4 billion “dumb fucks” who trust his claims (like WhatsApp’s encryption),” he tweeted.
Durov questioned how much users should trust WhatsApp’s privacy claims. WhatsApp says messages are protected with end to end encryption, meaning only the sender and receiver can read them. Critics, however, have often pointed out that Meta can still collect other details, like who you talk to and how often.
Telegram has long tried to market itself as a safer option. Durov often highlights that Telegram does not show ads in private chats and offers secret chats with stronger privacy settings. He has also spoken about refusing to share user data easily with governments.
This is not the first time Durov has gone after Meta. In 2021, changes to WhatsApp’s privacy policy caused many users to leave the app and move to Telegram. Durov has frequently reminded people of that moment.
The post spread quickly online, getting thousands of likes and reposts within hours. Some users praised Durov for speaking up. Others pushed back, pointing out Telegram’s own problems, including how it handles harmful content and long standing questions about its background.
Still, the message landed. In a time when personal data is valuable, the clash is a reminder that users should think carefully about who they trust with their private conversation
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