I am sure I am not on top of these things, but here’s my thinking:
Telegram minus: not E2E by default
Telegram challenge: non standard encryption
Telegram plus: verifiable builds. large communities, as long as you don’t need E2E
Signal minus: non-verifiable builds (does that apply to Whisperfish?),
Signal challenge: standard encryption, multi-player chats
Signal plus: E2E by default
Matrix: I am pretty ignorant, maybe it has E2E like Signal (also with multi-player chats) and verifiable builds.
Whatsapp: A binary executable that says it is using E2E. Just ignore. Why is this even mentioned is beyond my understanding. There are reverse engineers that monitor it if it still using signal protocol… how could that go wrong…?
Whatsapp minus: backups.
Why is standard encryption or not both a challenge?
Well, because previously standard encryption was made to be broken. Does it mean that using non-standard is better? No, neither…
Why is multi-player chats a challenge?
Because this is an attack vector.
Why backups are a minus?
Because you don’t have to key in a password when you restore them… get it?
Shady references:
- Referencing the board Signal problem is probably this: Signal’s Katherine Maher Problem | City Journal
- What instant messenger is painted with grim usage, is also the best for privacy. If you never heard of a coup d’etat on Whatsapp, you should know why.