The Trump Administration Blames Signal for the Leak. It’s Not the App’s Fault.

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The one news story that's been all but inescapable this week is the Trumpworld embarrassment crudely recognized as "Signalgate"—the awkward, alarming saga of how the Atlantic's editor in chief became an inadvertent witness to the government's military planning via a group chat on the privately owned, encrypted messaging app Signal.

It was such an obvious fuck-up, an unmistakable national-security breach with such troubling implications, that the parties responsible had a difficult time owning up to things. Somehow, as my colleague Ben Mathis-Lilley noted, President Donald Trump briefly emerged as the Adult in the Room, giving the most honest plausible explanation for the fiasco—that it was a contact mix-up on national security adviser Mike Waltz's part—as the others stammered their way through accusations that Jeffrey Goldberg had wiggled his way in.

(It was likely harder for them to keep up the charade after the German newsmagazine Der Spiegel reported Wednesday that private contact info for Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Waltz is "particularly easy" to find online.)

Of course, Trump's moment of relative integrity was never bound to last. On Wednesday evening, according to Forbes, he wafted away any individual blame by telling reporters: “I don’t know that Signal works. I think Signal could be defective, to be honest with you. … It could be a defective platform, and we're going to have to figure that out.”

Let's be very clear: this is not the fault of the app itself.

The issue here lies with Trump's own administration and their handling of sensitive information. The fact that an ordinary citizen was able to stumble upon this confidential conversation via Signal says more about the lax security measures in place than anything else.

What Makes Signal So Different?

So, what makes Signal so special? Let's take a closer look at its features and policies.

The Signal Foundation is a non-profit organization that focuses on developing secure communication tools for the public. Its primary goal is to create a platform where users can communicate without fear of surveillance or data collection.

Signal operates on a unique model, where users are required to generate their own encryption keys. These keys are stored on each individual user's phone and not in Signal's servers. This means that even if the app were compromised, no one would be able to access the encrypted messages without the corresponding key.

In addition to its end-to-end encryption, Signal has a robust set of privacy features. Messages can disappear from users' phones after a set amount of time, and an automatic face-blurring tool is available for potentially sensitive images. The app also uses servers based outside the United States that can obscure users' IP addresses.

Signal's History and Reputation

Over the years, Signal has built a reputation as one of the most trusted encrypted chat apps. It has avoided the types of controversies that have plagued more popular alternatives, like WhatsApp and Telegram, around incitement of violence and crime.

The app's small size and tightly controlled budget make it difficult for it to handle sign-up surges, such as the influx of users in early 2021 who left WhatsApp after it expanded the types of user info that could be shared with other Facebook companies.

Who's Behind Signal's Controversy?

Last year, a right-wing campaign accused NPR of acting as a Marxist propagandist network. The well-known fabulist Christopher Rufo pointed out that NPR CEO Katherine Maher also sits on the Signal Foundation's board and implied baselessly that this may have "compromised" Signal's integrity.

Elon Musk, previously a longtime Signal fan, has since jumped onto the bandwagon, tweeting about "known vulnerabilities with Signal" and even going so far as to block Signal links on X. Musk has already been assigned to investigate Signalgate with the assistance of his “technical experts” at DOGE.

It's worth noting that Musk has a history of spreading misinformation and conspiracy theories. Don't expect the truth to come out in this case either.

The Fallout

For now, Signal's co-founder may feel comfortable quipping about this whole matter, but don't be surprised if the fallout from the whole affair leads to more conspiracizing around the app. Especially with Musk so close to Trump, it's likely that we'll see more misinformation and fearmongering in the days to come.

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