A reason for the growth has not been given, but the news comes shortly after new rules at competitor WhatsApp sparked anger among users.
The app developer writes on Twitter that confirmation codes for new users are delayed because the servers are overloaded by user growth.
“We can hardly register our own enthusiasm,” the tweet jokes. It has not been said how many users downloaded the app today.
Signal is a privacy-conscious competitor to WhatsApp, which promises not to collect user data. In addition, messages are carefully encrypted.
New WhatsApp policy
That privacy promise is diametrically opposed to WhatsApp’s new terms, which users must agree to if they want to continue using the app. These ensure that WhatsApp will exchange information between the chat app and Facebook from 8 February.
This data sharing does not apply everywhere: in Europe, Facebook is not allowed to link WhatsApp data to its other platforms, because this was one of the conditions to ever approve the WhatsApp takeover.
Elon Musk
Nevertheless, the new regulations are causing frustration among users worldwide. At the same time, Facebook is being criticized for the platform they provided to President Donald Trump for years, on which he also incited users to storm the Capitol.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk was recently critical of Facebook’s influence on the current situation in the United States, after which he called on users to switch to Signal. That message received more than 142,000 likes and was retweeted almost 18,000 times.
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