I find it ironic. As a kid growing up with the start of the internet, many Europeans and Australians implied the US would soon be an authoritarian surveillance state. I even deleted all my comments and accounts because I believed it (as a kid). Now, about 20 years later, I would wager Europe/Australia will reach that point first.
I sometimes wish I could bring a crystal ball back in time and see how people would react to the future... I think they would be horrified at how far we've let corporations and governments into our lives.
But we should let corporations into our lives that aren't even following the laws? Frankly, the Telegram users I've seen here and on Reddit really don't make a case for themselves, with all the sweeping accusations they throw around without knowing anything about the case.
20 years ago it was still reasonable to assume that the person you saw posting something was actually real, that the content you saw was actually written by somebody like you, curated by people like you. It's not like this anymore. It's time to stop being naive. The road to hell is paved with good intentions and one of them is granting foreign entities unrestricted access to the minds of your fellow countrymen.
I don't disagree with your concerns. In fact, I think they are overlooked by so many people.
However, I don't believe justifying or creating a surveillance state is the solution. We can't save people from themselves, it will be an arms race where the only casualty is our rights.
I sometimes wish I could bring a crystal ball back in time and see how people would react to the future... I think they would be horrified at how far we've let corporations and governments into our lives.