There was a substantial jump in the quantity of individuals downloading the messaging app Signal right after Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted “Use Signal” to his 41 million followers on Thursday. The surge came just hours right after Elon Musk endorsed the service, as alterations to WhatsApp’s terms and privacy policy raised safety issues.
WhatsApp’s policy adjust brought on rather a stir earlier this week, with reports claiming that the hugely well-known messaging app would start sharing more user information with parent firm Facebook. Amid increasing privacy issues, a quantity of social media customers announced their selection to switch to Signal – an encrypted, privacy-focused messaging app. Developed by a nonprofit foundation, Signal is supported by user donations.
As calls to boycott WhatsApp grew on social media, writer and human rights activist Iyad el-Baghdadi tweeted: “It’s time to dump @Whatsapp and get our moms to use @signalapp.”
“There is no other way,” he added.
Signal’s official Twitter manage had a sweet response to the tweet. “There are no Terms of Service for a mother’s love,” Signal tweeted.
There are no Terms of Service for a mother’s enjoy.https://t.co/uWaguxLtVy
— Signal (@signalapp) January 7, 2021
The tweet has racked up practically 2,000 ‘likes’ and 300 ‘retweets’ on the microblogging platform.
The surge in the quantity of individuals downloading Signal led to verification codes becoming delayed for new individuals attempting to join the service. “Verification codes are currently delayed across several providers because so many new people are trying to join Signal right now (we can barely register our excitement). We are working with carriers to resolve this as quickly as possible,” the messaging service informed customers by way of a Twitter post Thursday.