The president of Signal defended the messaging app’s security after top Trump administration officials mistakenly included a journalist in an encrypted chatroom they used to discuss looming U.S. military action against Yemen’s Houthis.
Reuters reports that Meredith Whittaker, the president of Signal, has come forward to defend the messaging app’s security following a blunder by top Trump administration officials. The officials had accidentally included a journalist in an encrypted chatroom where they were discussing impending U.S. military action against Yemen’s Houthis. Although Whittaker did not directly address the incident, which Democratic lawmakers are trying to spin as a breach of national security, she took to X to highlight Signal’s security advantages over its competitor, Meta’s WhatsApp.
I wouldn’t say that Will and I are battling but I do disagree. Because there are big differences between Signal and WhatsApp.
— Meredith Whittaker (@mer__edith) March 25, 2025
Signal is the gold standard in private comms. We’re open source, nonprofit, and we develop and apply e2ee and privacy preserving tech across our system… https://t.co/ZU60z2vVHy
In her post on X, Whittaker described Signal as the “gold standard in private comms.” She emphasized the app’s open-source nature, nonprofit status, and the application of end-to-end encryption and privacy-preserving technology across its system to protect both metadata and message contents. Signal has been gaining popularity in Europe and the United States as an alternative to WhatsApp due to its minimal data collection practices. According to data from Sensor Tower, a market intelligence firm, U.S. downloads of Signal in the first quarter of 2025 saw a 16 percent increase compared to the previous quarter and a 25 percent rise compared to the same period in 2024.
Whittaker had previously addressed Signal’s security advantages in a February interview with De Telegraaf, a Dutch newspaper. She stated that Signal was a safer alternative because WhatsApp collects metadata that can be used to determine who messages whom and how frequently they communicate. “When compelled, like all companies that collect the data to begin with, they turn this important, revealing data over,” Whittaker reiterated in her post on X.
In response to Whittaker’s comments, a WhatsApp spokesperson stated that the app relies on metadata to prevent spam and maintain the service’s safety from abuse. The spokesperson clarified, “We do not keep logs of who everyone is messaging or calling and do not track the personal messages people are sending one another for ads.”
Read more at Reuters here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.
