The Android APKs have been decompiled which confirmed this was completely intentional:<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.androidpolice.com&#x2F;2015&#x2F;12&#x2F;01&#x2F;whatsapp-is-blocking-telegram-links-in-the-android-app&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.androidpolice.com&#x2F;2015&#x2F;12&#x2F;01&#x2F;whatsapp-is-blocking...</a><p>&gt; The smoking gun is a pattern match performed on any URL string that begins with the word &#x27;telegram.&#x27; In the most recent version of the app, these strings are classified as a &quot;bad host,&quot; so that no hyperlink is generated and it becomes impossible to copy or forward any message with that URL. No other strings trigger the match, so this block is purposefully targeted at Telegram.