It comes down to how the network is designed, Meshtastic is open source, you can go look at how the encryption works right now. There are issues with Meshtastic from a privacy standpoint but you could somewhat trivially design a derivative that is much more zero trust.
As with all things, layer your defenses. Not using the network that’s known to be surveiling you and instead using one that you have some confidence is leaking less info on top of the usual precautions is a solid improvement.
It comes down to how the network is designed, Meshtastic is open source, you can go look at how the encryption works right now. There are issues with Meshtastic from a privacy standpoint but you could somewhat trivially design a derivative that is much more zero trust.
As with all things, layer your defenses. Not using the network that’s known to be surveiling you and instead using one that you have some confidence is leaking less info on top of the usual precautions is a solid improvement.