Meredith Whittaker recalls her reaction to Signal-Gate

In an interview with Time magazine, Meredith Whittaker, President of the encrypted messaging app Signal, reacted with disbelief when she first read about the major security crisis for the US Trump Administration, which has since been labelled as "Signal-gate".

The situation unfolded when then-National Security Advisor Mike Waltz accidentally added an editor for the Atlantic to a private Signal group chat discussing US military strikes.

Whittaker recalls that her paramount concern was safeguarding Signal's image. Given the app's widespread use by government officials, journalists, human rights defenders, and privacy-seeking individuals globally, her team were quick to highlight that the security breaches were user errors, not flaws in Signal's industry-leading encryption. Their objective was to ensure the crisis did not undermine the fundamental right to private communication that Signal exists to ensure. Ultimately, Signal emerged stronger from the episode, experiencing a significant increase in downloads and donations, a testament to user confidence in its security and its non-profit, privacy-focused model.