Telegram is just actually superior in terms of features I don’t get it.
There’s no ‘love’ for Meta, most people don’t think in those terms. It’s just that their platforms are in heavy use in many countries and you tend to use the method most common to people in your circle.
My older friends and family use Messenger and SMS, my similarly aged peers use WhatsApp, and my work colleagues use Signal. So I correspond across all these. I know the benefits and pitfalls of each but I can’t influence the established communication choices of others. The only people i know who use Telegram are racist nutjobs.