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Tag: Brian Acton

  • WhatsApp Founder Is Signal’s New Interim CEO

    WhatsApp Founder Is Signal’s New Interim CEO

    Moxie Marlinspike, the creator of Signal, is stepping down as CEO, with WhatsApp founder Brian Acton stepping in on an interim basis.

    Signal is one of the most secure messaging platforms on the market, and has seen a major increase in usage as privacy has become more important to users. In fact, according to a recent report, Signal was one of the only apps the FBI was unable to glean any useful information from. The only information that could be gained was when an account was created and when it was last used.

    Amid Signal’s rising popularity, Marlinspike has decided it’s time to hand over the reigns.

    In other words, after a decade or more, it’s difficult to overstate how important Signal is to me, but I now feel very comfortable replacing myself as CEO based on the team we have, and also believe that it is an important step for expanding on Signal’s success. I’ve been talking with candidates over the last few months, but want to open up the search with this announcement in order to help find the best person for the next decade of Signal. Please get in touch if that might be you!

    WhatsApp founder Brian Acton will take over as interim CEO until a permanent replacement is found. Acton as been a member of Signal’s board for some time, and has invested over $100 million in the Signal Technology Foundation. Acton became a vocal supporter of Signal, and a critic of his own creation WhatsApp, after Facebook purchased WhatsApp and began exploring options he felt would degrade the app’s privacy.

    I will continue to remain on the Signal board, committed to helping manifest Signal’s mission from that role, and I will be transitioning out as CEO over the next month in order to focus on the candidate search. Brian Acton, who is also on the Signal Foundation board, has volunteered to serve as interim CEO during the search period. I have every confidence in his commitment to the mission and ability to facilitate the team for this time.

  • EU Commission Switching to Signal Messaging App

    EU Commission Switching to Signal Messaging App

    In an effort to improve its cybersecurity, the EU Commission is encouraging its staff to switch to the Signal messaging app.

    In the world of messaging, Signal is considered the king of security. It features end-to-end encryption that is widely believed to be the best in the business. It’s so good, in fact, that its protocol serves as the basis of the more popular WhatsApp. Unlike WhatsApp, however, Signal is also open-source, ensuring a level of transparency that other apps can’t match.

    Signal has recently been in the news as it works to become a more mainstream alternative to more well-known competitors. A big part of that was an investment by WhatsApp cofounder Brian Acton of $50 million two years ago. Acton left Facebook over disagreements about WhatsApp’s privacy once Facebook acquires his creation. By throwing his weight—and money—behind Signal, Acton obviously sees the app as the successor to WhatsApp, and the best option for individuals who want to keep their communications secure.


    The EU Commission evidently agrees, as it wants its staff to switch to the messaging app to help avoid the kind of embarrassing leaks it has experienced recently, according to Politico. The move will likely cause turmoil in the greater debate about end-to-end encryption, as governments around the world are pushing tech companies to create backdoors for government access. Mathematicians, cryptographers, scientists, tech leaders and even some lawmakers have all said such a quest is foolhardy, dangerous and impossible to achieve without fundamentally weakening encryption and opening up innocent individuals to having their data compromised.

    The EU seemingly endorsing the single, most secure end-to-end encryption platform on the planet will go a long way toward making the case against backdoors or weakening of the very encryption the EU is counting on.

    Image Credit: Signal (Instagram @signal_app)

  • Facebook Backtracks On Ads In WhatsApp

    Facebook Backtracks On Ads In WhatsApp

    More than a year after WhatsApp’s founders resigned in protest, Facebook is backtracking on its plans to include ads in the messaging app, according to The Wall Street Journal.

    WhatsApp’s founders, Jan Koum and Brian Acton, were so strongly opposed to ads being implemented in the app that “the two changed WhatsApp’s terms of service to explicitly forbid displaying ads in the app, and complicating any future efforts to do so,” people familiar with the matter told the WSJ.

    When Facebook acquired WhatsApp, Mark Zuckerberg said he agreed that ads were not a good fit for messaging platforms. Eventually, however, Facebook starting looking for ways to recoup the $22 billion price tag and put ads on the table. Koum and Acton’s response were likely an effort to stave off Facebook’s changing views.

    As Facebook became more determined to implement ads, the two founders decided to part ways with the company, leaving “a combined $1.3 billion in deferred compensation” on the table.

    Now, it appears that Facebook has again had a change of heart. According to the WSJ, the team responsible for figuring out how to best integrate ads into WhatsApp has been disbanded, and “the team’s work was then deleted from WhatsApp’s code.”

    Instead, WhatsApp is focusing on commercial interactions, since the messaging service is increasingly being used by companies to provide customer service. This opens all new ways for Facebook to monetize the platform without undermining the privacy and security that made it what it is today.