Signal, known for its commitment to user privacy, has around 40 million monthly active users and over 100 million downloads as of January 2022. Whittaker expressed hope that encrypted messaging will become the norm, noting that Meta plans to roll out end-to-end encryption on Facebook Messenger and Instagram despite the UK's Online Safety Bill. She emphasized that digital communications should respect the norm of privacy that has been in place for thousands of years.
Key takeaways:
- Meredith Whittaker, the president of the Signal Foundation, has stated that Signal would leave the U.K. if the country’s recently-passed Online Safety Bill forced the app to build “backdoors” into its end-to-end encryption.
- The Online Safety Bill could potentially allow the U.K.’s communications regulator, Ofcom, to break the encryption of apps and services under the guise of removing illegal material. Non-compliant companies could face fines up to £18 million ($22.28 million), or 10% of their global annual revenue.
- Signal takes measures to ensure its users remain anonymous, and the only data it has handed over in response to search warrants is the phone number registered to a Signal account and the last time a user accessed their account.
- Whittaker expressed hope that encrypted messaging would become the norm, and pointed to Meta's plans to roll out end-to-end encryption on Facebook Messenger and Instagram as a positive step, despite the U.K.’s Online Safety Bill.