Telegram just claims to be private, but they can't prove it with technical means, instead they rely on the narrative that they are not data brokers. All the while they have strong connection with suspicious parties like the UAE, and from time to time publish weird announcements like the tucker carlson interview that is also said to have contained a far right dogwhistle

Telegram isn't encrypted by default btw! If you want that, I'd recommend Matrix, Signal or WhatsApp (in that order imo)