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Telegram Adds New Verification Option to Cut Down on Scams

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Telegram today announced the launch of a new feature that will allow official third-party services to assign extra verification icons to user accounts and chats. The added verification is meant to cut down on scams and reduce misinformation.

telegram-extra-verification.jpg

While Telegram already has a verification process for public figures and organizations, trusted third-party services will be able to provide additional verification options. A chat or account that has a third-party verification will be marked with a small logo before their name, and opening the associated profile will show a more detailed explanation of the account's status and what it means.

Third-party verification is separate from the verified checkmarks that Telegram provides to public figures and organizations. A service that wants to provide third-party verification to others must first be verified by Telegram and must complete an application.

According to Telegram, third-party verification will make it easier for users to independently confirm the people they contact and services they interact with.

Along with the new verification option, Telegram added support for collectible gifts, reactions for service messages, extra message search filters, and more.

Telegram says that its first major update of 2025 was actually supposed to come in on the last day of 2024, but it was "sadly delayed by a lack of attention from Apple's review team."

Article Link: Telegram Adds New Verification Option to Cut Down on Scams
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2025/01/02/telegram-third-party-verification/
I guess I'm just not hip as I can't find any point to telegram. No one I know uses it, so it's not good for talking to friends. I don't follow people I don't personally know (social, YouTube or otherwise) and I don't do chat rooms, so what's left?

Can someone explain?
 
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WarmWinterHat said:
I guess I'm just not hip as I can't find any point to telegram. No one I know uses it, so it's not good for talking to friends. I don't follow people I don't personally know (social, YouTube or otherwise) and I don't do chat rooms, so what's left?

Can someone explain?
Click to expand...

Easy - other people have friends that have it. Other people can find utility in something that you personally do not.

Personally, I prefer it over something like Discord. Infinitely better UX than that garbage heap.
 
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Telegram is the best. The features, no issues, sometimes have gotten spam, but that has been reduced hardly nothing for me now, I use it to transfer files between iPhone and computer wehter it be linux, windows, macos or android, I get news from various sources to got context of whats happening, to chat, etc. It is not USA based, and that's definitely a positive. It's not perfect, unfortunately there is still loads of censorship due to various governments around the world. Brilliant service, been using it since it first started.
 
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WarmWinterHat said:
I guess I'm just not hip as I can't find any point to telegram. No one I know uses it, so it's not good for talking to friends. I don't follow people I don't personally know (social, YouTube or otherwise) and I don't do chat rooms, so what's left?

Can someone explain?
Click to expand...
Telegram has by far the best UX of any instant messaging app I’ve ever used, I’m sure many users agree with me.
 
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Our group outgrew text messages with the limitation of 20 maximum for some carriers or Android phones.
We looked at WhatsApp, Messenger and Signal but most of our group is over 65 and some don’t have meta accounts and are leery of anything meta or social media.
I suggested Telegram and created a group and assigned administrators and it has taken off and now has 40+ members and growing with lots of topics and daily conversations.
Nice features allow new members to go back and see old messages and they can edit or delete messages they sent. Lots of media support and even sharing files and access on older devices both Android and iOS. Lots of customization and data throttling settings so one can limit memory and storage and control if media automatically download or not.
As far as the wacko groups out there, you have to be self disciplined and just stay away and don’t go wondering down the dark alleys. There are some good groups with travel and videos.
And if someone steals your invite link it can be reset to a new one.
 
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WarmWinterHat said:
I guess I'm just not hip as I can't find any point to telegram. No one I know uses it, so it's not good for talking to friends. I don't follow people I don't personally know (social, YouTube or otherwise) and I don't do chat rooms, so what's left?

Can someone explain?
Click to expand...
It just means that your friends aren't a part of nearly 1 billion monthly active users of Telegram.
 
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Chuckeee said:
Telegram has the reputation of being THE on-line service for hosting & protecting fanatical extremist groups across the spectrum (political to pedophiles). I don’t see how adding a verification sticker addresses that concern.
Click to expand...
It is still part of freedom of speech. Many authoritarian governments use your concern as the main excuse to limit the human rights of civilians.
 
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Chuckeee said:
Telegram has the reputation of being THE on-line service for hosting & protecting fanatical extremist groups across the spectrum (political to pedophiles). I don’t see how adding a verification sticker addresses that concern.
Click to expand...
Also it’s highly used in the business community for international work. I have used it quite a bit but there’s so much problems with that at times I would never put it on my personal phone I don’t like you keep it on the business Home. I had on my personal phone and it cost so much havoc that I had to remove it.
 
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coolfactor said:
Yup that was a pretty sad comment by Telegram. Don't Apple employees deserve to enjoy New Years Eve with their families, too? This world ...
Click to expand...
The app update had been sitting in Apple's review queue for weeks. They left plenty of time so that the scheduled NYE release would happen. Apps can be scheduled to be released on a certain day, and most developers do that. Having the app sit for weeks without being reviewed meant that it missed the scheduled time for release, and other apps that were in the review queue shorter, were released, so something happened to keep this Telegram update from being reviewed in a timely manner.
 
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WarmWinterHat said:
I guess I'm just not hip as I can't find any point to telegram. No one I know uses it, so it's not good for talking to friends. I don't follow people I don't personally know (social, YouTube or otherwise) and I don't do chat rooms, so what's left?

Can someone explain?
Click to expand...

It's OK to not be X, Y, Z and thus not find any value in it. But then why are you asking people to explain it? You already posted your own answer.

People outside North America don't use iMessage. Telegram has way better functionality and UX than other messengers, including iMessage.
 
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WarmWinterHat said:
I guess I'm just not hip as I can't find any point to telegram. No one I know uses it, so it's not good for talking to friends. I don't follow people I don't personally know (social, YouTube or otherwise) and I don't do chat rooms, so what's left?

Can someone explain?
Click to expand...
It depends very much where you live. Here, in Germany, a lot of people use it. My wife has it because several of her friends use it exclusively to chat with each other.

We use Signal for ourselves and family, but some people insist on Telegram or WhatsApp, for example. My wife also has to use Threema for Business for work chat.

But Telegram also has a seedier side, which doesn't help its reputation. There are drug dealers, weapons dealers and many other socially abhorrent groups, for example:

(Original story)
www.tagesschau.de

Vergewaltiger-Netzwerk auf Telegram aufgedeckt

In Dutzenden Telegram-Gruppen tauschen sich Nutzer dazu aus, wie sie Frauen betäuben und missbrauchen können. Aufnahmen davon werden anschließend geteilt. STRG_F hat entsprechende Chatverläufe, Fotos und Videos dokumentiert.
www.tagesschau.de www.tagesschau.de

(English version on non-paywalled site)
www.newsbytesapp.com

Telegram groups 'on how to rape women' with up to 70k members uncovered

www.newsbytesapp.com www.newsbytesapp.com
 
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WarmWinterHat said:
Never used Discord, either.

I'm not complaining, just don't get it. I just iMessage/text the people I know
Click to expand...

Ah you see... I know virtually noone that uses iMessage or text anymore :D and all my communication happens over Telegram (and a tiny fraction on WhatsApp). To everyone each own? :)

btw. I like it's UI/UX and the fact that it works seamlessly on multiple devices with chat history and all
 
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Don't use the service much but any form of added verification is always welcome. The new search filters are also a good addition.
 
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Big_D said:
We use Signal for ourselves and family, but some people insist on Telegram or WhatsApp, for example. My wife also has to use Threema for Business for work chat.
Click to expand...
I would give Signal another chance since it finally supports setting a username and hides the phone number by default. It's also very clean and simple comparing to Telegram and it has the native support of traditional Chinese.
 
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Telegram is REALLY UNSAFE as it is one of the few messaging apps that doesn’t offer end to end encryption. People trash WhatsApp but it is infinitely safer than telegram. If you want god knows who to read all your chats and see images and videos you share then use telegram lol
 
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uuee6543 said:
Telegram is REALLY UNSAFE as it is one of the few messaging apps that doesn’t offer end to end encryption. People trash WhatsApp but it is infinitely safer than telegram. If you want god knows who to read all your chats and see images and videos you share then use telegram lol
Click to expand...
Then use your absolutely safe WhatsApp operated by Meta
 
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