Russians are very advanced when it comes to the internet.
I do not doubt that for marginalized groups such as the LGBTQ comunity, who have to watch every step they do. But given the restrictions placed on everyday online services in Russia I'd assume the average citizen has harder time.
Doesn't mean anything. Especially for groups who just want to communicate.
A subset of society that's marginalized at best and killed at the worst doesn't care about who can read and influence their communication? That seems highly shortsighted to me.
There is not enough evidence to support the probability of telegram making steps to make finding gay people easier for Russian authorities.
That we know of. Given that the company behind Telegram has been involved in various sketchy situations I wouldn't bet my wellbeing on a service that might or might not share information with a corrupt government..