Elon Musk’s team that works to dismantle the federal bureaucracy and the protesters who hope to stop him have something in common: they use signal to keep their communications safe.
According to mobile security experts, Signal, an application of text and voice with just over a decade of seniority, is considered the gold standard for end -to -end encrypted communications.
It has been widely adopted, not only by dissidents concerned about privacy, but also for officials, legislators, generals and business leaders.
Even before the application became a issue of national conversation when high Trump officials inadvertently added a reporter to their delicate discussions about the imminent air attacks in Yemen, Signal was sweeping the capital.
Tower sensor data, an analysis company, show that the downloads of the signal application in the United States in the first three months of 2025 have increased 16% compared to the previous quarter and 25% compared to the same period of 2024.
In Washington, it is difficult to find an assistant of Congress OA a political position that does not use the application, managed by the non -profit foundation Signal Foundation.
The words “take this to Signal” are the universal indication that the conversation is about to get interesting. According to a recent study by Associated Press, more than 1,100 officials of the 50 states use Signal.
The Musk government efficiency department coordinates its work to reduce public expenses through Signal, according to the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.
Musk itself used the application during its purchase in 2022 of the social network Twitter.
Approval of governments
Some governments have officially blessed the use of Signal. In 2020, the European Commission told its personnel to use Signal, adding that its orientation applied to the “public instant messaging.”
The US authorities have not been so explicit but, in guidelines published at the end of last year, the Cybersecurity and Safety Agency of the infrastructure urged the high positions of the administration to immediately change communications applications to end -to -end communications, among which Signal stands out.
The United States Senate approved a long time ago the use of Signal by legislative personnel.
The protection of the privacy of Signal – the company states that it only captures the minimum data on its users – has also made it attractive to criminals.
Drug traffickers usually direct conversations with customers to Signal and other encrypted apps, the anti -drug agency said in a 2022 report, while those who conspired to frustrate the Pacific transfer of power on January 6, 2021 employed Signal to coordinate their attack on the United States Capitol, according to judicial archives that quoted their chats.
The movement to oppose the efforts of President Donald Trump for drastically reducing the federal bureaucracy and challenging constitutional protections of long data is also taking place through Signal.
The complainants of the public service are resorting to Signal to avoid the surveillance of those designated by Trump. Three recently dismissed employees told Reuters that their colleagues have rushed to download the application.
With Reuters information.
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