Is Signal actually safer than WhatsApp? Edward Snowden expresses his thoughts

Edward Snowden, who is a former contractor of the National Security Agency (NSA) has stated that Signal is a more secure platform than Whatsapp. His statement reflects the many concerns that Whatsapp’s new privacy policy has raised.

Ever since Whatsapp announced its decision to share data with parent company Facebook, literally millions have shifted to the more encrypted app Signal.

In a tweet, Snowden said, “For those wondering about @SignalApp’s scaling, #WhatsApp’s decision to sell out its users to @Facebook has led to what is probably the biggest digital migration to a more secure messenger we’ve ever seen. Hang in there while the Signal team catches up.”

For those wondering about @SignalApp's scaling, #WhatsApp's decision to sell out its users to @Facebook has led to what is probably the biggest digital migration to a more secure messenger we've ever seen. Hang in there while the Signal team catches up. https://t.co/xNKz4aYUFJ

— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) January 15, 2021

The messaging app Signal saw a major increase in downloads with millions of users choosing it over Whatsapp. This is why Signal’s servers have been burdened and the app crashed earlier too.

However, Edward Snowden has laid his confidence in the end-to-end encrypted app.

When asked whether Signal could be trusted through a tweet, he gave the reason that he uses it and is not dead yet.

Here's a reason: I use it every day and I'm not dead yet. https://t.co/Trhgqbwdpj

— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) January 7, 2021

He also addressed a question about Telegram’s, which is another messaging app, security in comparison with Signal. To this, he responded that according to infosec’s consensus, Signal is much more secure than Telegram.

“Signal is an independent non-profit with a $50m endowment—they can’t be meaningfully influenced by money for a very long time. Telegram is a standard private company,” he added.