Millions flock to Telegram and Signal
Messaging apps experience surge in popularity among privacy-conscious users, writes Jack Nicas
Neeraj Agrawal, a spokesman for a cryptocurrency think-tank, has typically used the encrypted messaging app Signal to chat with privacy-minded colleagues and peers. So he was surprised on Monday when the app alerted him to two new users: his mum and dad.
“Signal still had a subversive shine to it,” said Mr Agrawal, 32. “Now my parents are on it.”
On Telegram, another encrypted messaging app, Gavin McInnes, founder of the far-right Proud Boys group, had just announced his return. “Man, I haven’t posted here in a while,” he wrote on Sunday. “I’ll be posting regularly.”
And on Twitter, Elon Musk, the billionaire entrepreneur, also weighed in last week with a two-word endorsement: “Use Signal.”
Over the past week, tens of millions of people have downloaded Signal and Telegram, making them the two hottest apps in the world. Signal allows messages to be sent with “end-to-end encryption”, meaning no one but the sender and receiver can read its contents. Telegram offers some encrypted messaging options but is largely popular for its group-based chat rooms where people can discuss a variety of subjects.
Their sudden jump in popularity was spurred by a series of events last week that stoked growing anxiety over some of the big tech companies and their communication apps, like WhatsApp, which Facebook owns. Tech companies including Facebook and Twitter removed thousands of far-right accounts — including President Donald Trump’s — after the storming of the Capitol. Amazon, Apple and Google also cut off support for Parler, a social network popular with Trump’s fans. In response, conservatives sought out new apps where they could communicate.
At the same time, privacy worries rose over WhatsApp, which last week reminded users in a pop-up notification that it shares some of their data with its parent company. The notification set off a wave of anxiety, fuelled by viral chain messages that falsely claimed Facebook could read WhatsApp messages. The result was a mass migration that could weaken the power of Facebook and other big tech companies. On Tuesday, Telegram said it added more than 25 million users over the previous three days, pushing it to over 500 million users. Signal added nearly 1.3 million users on Monday alone, after averaging just 50,000 downloads a day last year.
The rise of Telegram and Signal could inflame the debate over encryption, which helps protect the privacy of people’s digital communications but can stymie the authorities in crime investigations because conversations are hidden.
Telegram has been particularly popular for those on the far right because it mimics social media. So after Facebook and Twitter limited Trump on their services last week and other companies began pulling their support from Parler, far-right groups on Parler and other fringe social networks posted links to new Telegram channels and urged people to join them there.
In the four hours after Parler went offline on Monday, one Proud Boys group on Telegram gained over 4,000 new followers.
Telegram says 94% of its 25 million new users came from Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and North Africa.
Signal says it is the No.1 app in 70 countries on iOS devices and in 45 countries on Android devices.