Signal's president defended the security of messaging apps on Wednesday after officials from the top Trump administration mistakenly included journalists in the encrypted chat rooms they used to discuss the looming US attacks on Yemen's Hoosies.
Signal's Meredith Whitaker did not directly address the blunder that Democrats said was a violation of US national security. However, she described the app as “Private Com's Gold Standard.” In a post of xoutlined the security benefits of Signal over Meta's WhatsApp messaging app.
“We are an open source, nonprofit organization and develop and apply technologies that provide privacy across the system to protect the content of our metadata and messages,” she said.
As an alternative to WhatsApp, it has become increasingly popular in Europe and the US because it collects little data about users.
According to data from Sensor Tower, a market intelligence company, US signal downloads for the first three months of 2025 increased by 16% compared to the previous quarter and 25% compared to the same period in 2024.
In February Interview Using De Telegraaf, a Dutch newspaper, Whittaker said Signal is a safer alternative because WhatsApp can collect metadata, who, with whom, and how often, and how often.
“Like all the companies that collect data in the first place, when they're forced to reveal this important data and reveal it,” Whittaker said in an X post.
In a statement, a WhatsApp spokesman said it relies on metadata to prevent spam and “keep the service safe from abuse.”
“We don't keep logs of people who are messaging or calling, and we don't track personal messages that people are sending each other for advertising,” the statement said.
