Facebook Out of into the fire

Those heading to alternative messaging platforms such as Telegram are entering the wild west of social media.

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Telegram, the messaging app associated with far-right conspiracy theorists and the antimandate protesters who occupied Parliament's grounds, now has 700 million monthly users.

That's a remarkable number for an app with a fraction of the brand recognition of Instagram, Facebook Messenger or even TikTok. Twitter, the social network that serves as a sort of digital town square for the world, and which tech billionaire Elon Musk offered to buy in April for US$44 billion, has just 330 million monthly users.

What explains the recent rise of Telegram, which was founded in 2013 by Russian brothers Nikolai and Pavel Durov? Facebook's growth-at-all-costs business strategy and the resulting erosion of trust it created haven't seen a mass exodus of users from its various messaging apps Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram - which have more than three billion users between them.

But millions of people are clearly holding more of their conversations on alternative platforms such as Telegram and its rival, Signal, which are perceived to be more secure and private.