I am using a Samsung phone
Well, don’t. I know that’s not immediately helpful, but Samsung is well known for shipping tons of useless bloatware in their Android ROM and not giving a shit about user privacy.
I think it was their CEO who suggested simply not having sensitive conversations within earshot of their Smart-TVs, when it became known that they’re always listening.
No. If there’s no way to verify anything then all we have to go on is their word.
The word of a company generally isn’t worth a whole lot. Same with Telegram.