The encrypted messaging app Signal has experienced major delays in verifying phone numbers for new accounts on Thursday due to a sudden increase in people trying to join the platform.
In messages posted from its official Twitter account, the nonprofit Signal Foundation said the verification codes were delayed through various mobile networks and it ran through the backlog as fast as it could.
Verification codes are currently being delayed by several vendors because there are now so many new people trying to join Signal (we can barely register our excitement). We are working with mobile operators to fix this as quickly as possible. Hang in there. – Signals (@signalapp) January 7, 2021
Although now it is said that the issue was resolved, the rise in Signal records followed recent changes in privacy policy highlighted by rival messaging platform WhatsApp.
On Wednesday, WhatsApp began deploying its latest terms and privacy policy, which allows the popular messaging app to share a significant amount of user data with Facebook. The changes, which will take effect on February 8, 2021, are mandatory and users will not be able to continue using WhatsApp unless they agree to the terms.
Users who agree to the terms can expect to share with Facebook the registration and phone number of the WhatsApp account, transaction data, information related to the service, interaction information, mobile device information, l IP address and other data.
Facebook said The Verge up-to-date business messaging-related terms and nothing changes for regular users, but the lack of a deactivation option and the amount of shared data highlighted by the updated policy have raised privacy issues.
Last month, WhatsApp publicly protested Apple’s requirement that developers submit information about users’ data they collect for privacy tags in the App Store, saying it could give their messaging app a disadvantage. competitive.
Late last year, Apple enforced the App Store’s “privacy tags”. For the first time, it’s easy to compare how much data an app links to your account. As for messaging apps, the contrast is pretty strong. pic.twitter.com/Ntw8sELMHX
– Morgan (@morqon) January 5, 2021
The rise in Signal in users was also related to tweets posted by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who recently became the richest person in the world. As he points out The Verge, Musk continued the trend of criticizing Facebook with a Twitter post Wednesday evening, following the attack on the U.S. Capitol building.
Musk shared a meme suggesting the Facebook foundation had finally led to the day’s events and followed it up with a tweet suggesting that its 41.5 million voters “use Signal,” presumably instead of a proprietary product. of Facebook as WhatsApp. Musk’s suggestion was later he retweeted by Edward Snowden, another prominent Signal fan.
Notably, the Signal Foundation was co-founded and funded by Brian Acton, the former co-founder of WhatsApp who left the company after Facebook bought it in 2014. Acton later urged his followers on Twitter to: delete Facebook.
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