The Signal app encrypts all of your messages to others on the platform.
Roy Liu/Bloomberg/Getty Images
Tech mogul Elon Musk — known as widely for slinging cars into the sun’s orbit as he is for advocating against COVID-19 safety measures — took to Twitter last Thursday to slam Facebook over its latest privacy policy updates for its supposedly secure encrypted messaging app WhatsApp. Musk instead recommended users choose encrypted messaging app Signal.
The tweet was then retweeted by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. Shortly after, Signal tweeted that it was working to handle the surge of new users.
Verification codes are currently delayed across several providers because so many new people are trying to join Signal right now (we can barely register our excitement). We are working with carriers to resolve this as quickly as possible. Hang in there.
— Signal (@signalapp) January 7, 2021
The Signal app was downloaded almost 1.3 million times on Monday, according to data from Apptopia, a tracking firm. The app had been downloaded an average of 50,000 times a day prior to Musk’s tweet. A Signal spokesperson said the report undercounted the number of downloads the service is experiencing.
Musk’s Twitter endorsement also incidentally led shares in the biotechnology company Signal Advance to soar, despite the fact that it is completely unrelated to Signal, which is not a publicly traded company.
Is this what stock analysts mean when they say that the market is giving mixed Signals?
It’s understandable that people want to invest in Signal’s record growth, but this isn’t us. We’re an independent 501c3 and our only investment is in your privacy. pic.twitter.com/9EgMUZiEZf
— Signal (@signalapp) January 8, 2021
This isn’t the first time Musk has publicly sparred with Facebook over privacy concerns. In 2018, he not only had his own personal Facebook page removed, but those of his companies Tesla and SpaceX. His take on the long-fought battle between Signal and WhatsApp isn’t off-base, though.
Both of the encrypted messaging apps have been found to have security bugs over the years that have been resolved. For years,
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