Privacy was not a fad and for people who valued it, Signal represented a viable alternative, Acton told Moneycontrol in an interview in 2021.Īt the heart of the claim that Signal is a viable alternative, Acton said, was the belief that people valued privacy enough to sustain it, and that could drive an alternative to ad-based business models. Signal topped WhatsApp in terms of the number of downloads in the days following the policy-change announcement. When Facebook-owned WhatsApp announced changes to its privacy policy on January 6, 2021, Signal was the biggest gainer.ĭownloads of the app surged as people around the world, including India, looked for alternatives. His comments coincided with Facebook facing pressure over national security.Ĥ It will be interesting to watch how Acton positions Signal as a rival to WhatsApp 'If you want to be on Facebook, and you want to have ads thrust in front of you, go to town,' he said. Later, at the Wired's 25th anniversary summit, Acton told a crowd that people must make their own decisions on whether to stay or leave Facebook. Today, WhatsApp, Signal and Telegram use end-to-end encryption technology.ģ Acton has been a supporter of the #DeleteFacebook movement during the Cambridge Analytica ScandalĪcton's original tweet (#DeleteFacebook) came at a time when he'd been away from the social network for over a year in the wake of a conflict with Mark Zuckerberg over WhatsApp's monetisation. This includes text messages and media files. What is end-to-end encryption? A Google blog explains it as a security method that ensures that no parties except the sender and receiver can read messages that travel between their phones.

Open source means that the source code is freely available to use, modify, and redistribute, which, in turn, means full disclosure of app codes to users.Īn end-to-end encrypted messaging platform, Signal, has been endorsed by people including Twitter Inc co-founder Jack Dorsey and whistleblower and privacy advocate Edward Snowden.Ģ As WhatsApp co-founder, Acton has a big presence in the world of encrypted messagingĪcton is an advocate for privacy and end-to-end encryption in messaging apps.

Signal is an open-source app and backs the same technology for secure communication.

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