Signal to ramp up hiring after WhatsApp controversy drives download surge

Federal Signal

13/01/2021 15:55

By Munsif Vengattil and Eva  Mathews
    Jan 13 (Reuters) - Messaging app Signal has seen
"unprecedented" growth following a controversial change in rival
WhatsApp's privacy terms and is looking to hire more staff as it
seeks to bolster the service and supporting infrastructure, the
head of its controlling foundation said on Wednesday.
    Along with another encrypted app, Telegram, Signal has been
the main beneficiary of online outrage around the changes
announced last week, which require WhatsApp users to share their
data with both Facebook  FB.O  and Instagram. 
    Telegram said on Wednesday it had surpassed 500 million
active users globally.
    Brian Acton, who co-founded WhatsApp before selling it to
Facebook and then co-founding the Signal Foundation, declined to
give equivalent data for Signal but said that the expansion in
recent days had been "vertical". 
    "We've seen unprecedented growth this past week," Acton said
in an email to Reuters. "It's safe to say that because of this
record growth, we're even more interested in finding talented
people."
    He also said Signal was working to improve its video and
group chat functions, allowing it to compete better with
WhatsApp, Microsoft Teams, and other conferencing apps that have
become vital to day-to-day life over the past year.
    Signal was downloaded by 17.8 million users over the past
seven days, a 62-fold rise from the prior week, according to
data from Sensor Tower. WhatsApp was downloaded by 10.6 million
users during the same period, a 17% decline. 
    Privacy advocates have jumped on the WhatsApp changes,
pointing to what they say is Facebook's poor track record of
supporting consumers' interests when handling their data, with
many suggesting users migrate to other platforms.
    The non-profit Signal Foundation based in Silicon Valley,
which currently oversees the app, was launched in February 2018
with Acton providing initial funding of $50 million. 
    It has existed on donations since, with Tesla Inc Chief
Executive Officer Elon Musk among supporters, and Acton said
there were no plans to seek different sources of funding.
    "Millions of people value privacy enough to sustain it, and
we're trying to demonstrate that there is an alternative to the
ad-based business models that exploit user privacy," Acton said,
adding donations were "pouring in".

 (Reporting by Munsif Vengattil and Eva Mathews in Bengaluru;
Editing by Patrick Graham and Bernard Orr)
 ((munsif.vengattil@thomsonreuters.com;))