The president of Signal defended the messaging app’s security on Tuesday after senior Trump administration officials mistakenly included a journalist in an encrypted chat discussing imminent United States military action against Yemen’s Houthis.
Signal’s Meredith Whittaker did not directly address the mishap, which Democratic lawmakers have labeled a national security breach. However, in a post on X, she described the app as the “gold standard in private communications,” highlighting its security advantages over Meta’s WhatsApp.
“We’re open source, nonprofit, and we develop and apply end-to-end encryption and privacy-preserving technology across our system to protect metadata and message contents,” Whittaker stated.
Signal has been gaining popularity in Europe and the United States as a more private alternative to WhatsApp, as it collects minimal user data. According to Sensor Tower, a market intelligence firm, U.S. downloads of Signal in the first quarter of 2025 increased by 16% from the previous quarter and 25% from the same period in 2024.
In a February interview with Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf, Whittaker reiterated that Signal offers better privacy because WhatsApp collects metadata that can reveal who communicates with whom and how often.
“When compelled, like all companies that collect data, they turn this important, revealing information over,” Whittaker stated on X.
A WhatsApp spokesperson responded by emphasizing that the platform uses metadata to prevent spam and maintain security.
“We do not keep logs of who everyone is messaging or calling and do not track personal messages for ads,” the statement read.
