Element is the main app for Matrix, a federated chat protocol. You can use Element’s server or run your own and still talk to people on other servers. Private rooms can be end-to-end encrypted. Bridges can mirror Slack, Telegram, and other networks into a room.
The homeserver sees metadata. Public rooms are often unencrypted. Encryption is not a single switch that covers the whole product the way Signal does. Verification of devices confuses people, and an unverified session is how impersonation happens. Self-hosting means you keep the history, and you also keep the backups and the abuse complaints.
Use it for a group that wants its own server. Do not assume every room is sealed. element.io
Verify Element devices. The emoji ritual is annoying and it is the difference between encryption and a decoration. Prefer a homeserver you chose on purpose. The big public one is convenient and it is also a metadata pile for every unencrypted room you join. Do not bridge a private encrypted room into Slack and then call the room private. Bridges are copies.
