When the signal went through the ceiling: "Elon did not warn us"

At the beginning of January 2021, a new era dawned for the Signal messenger service: The US short message service, previously a niche provider, attracted tens of millions of new users within a few days. The reasons: The Facebook subsidiary Whatsapp announced new terms of use, which gave the impression that the service would share more data with the parent company in the future. A tweet from Tesla boss Elon Musk, who promoted Signal, then took care of the rest. The demand at Signal exploded. For the messenger, which is sold by a non-profit foundation, the enormous increase in demand is both a blessing and a curse. Capital.de spoke to Jun Harada, who is responsible for "Growth and Communication" at Signal.

What did you think when your user numbers went through the roof in January 2021?

I think I will never forget this month. It was an incredible moment for us. It must have been around January 4th when we suddenly saw the downloads skyrocket. It came from all over the world. At first we didn't really understand why.

Did you really have no idea?

Signal manager Harada: "There were moments when we had a million requests per second."

(Photo: REUTERS)

Well, at some point one of our colleagues said: Hey, maybe that's because of this message that Whatsapp sent to its users. We had no idea who this would affect, we didn't know the extent. But then we saw more and more reports on Twitter and the rumor mill swelled. And then we realized: Apparently people are pretty frustrated and are now coming to Signal. And of course we thought that was cool. And then Elon came …

So the moment when Tesla boss Elon Musk wrote on Twitter: "Use Signal …"

I agree. That was on January 7th. And that made it kind of a viral event. It's not entirely clear whether Elon was the trigger or just part of the momentum that developed there. But it was undoubtedly a huge boost. We became the most downloaded app in many countries. Also in Germany.

Was there any contact with Elon Musk, or did he just do it?

Elon was one of the donors at Signal. But his tweet came from himself. He didn't warn us, and we didn't expect it.

Such a sudden surge in downloads – were you technically cope with that?

We had a lot to do because the scale was just grotesque. It was a gigantic digital migration. We don't publish any numbers about downloads. But the numbers were just insane.

Why don't you publish any figures? It could also encourage new users to download your messenger.

We see ourselves as a not-for-profit, independent platform.

But then it would have to be even more important to go public with the download numbers.

Of course that's true. It's a bit ambiguous for us. We decided to collect as little data as possible. There are no tracking functions, no analysis in the app. It is important to us as an organization not to have any incentive to pursue certain target values. The mission is to enable as many people as possible to protect their data in communication. We would like to subordinate everything to this. And that would be at risk if we design the app with the aim of getting as many users as possible or letting them spend as much time as possible in the application. It's about business models that run counter to the goal of data protection.

The data protection problem is not new, it has been a part of all Internet services for a long time. Why should it become more important to people now?

Jun Harada.jpg

Jun Harada is Signal's "Growth and Communication" manager.

(Photo: Twitter @HaradaWins)

I already have the impression that the importance is increasing. We started Signal in 2013 and have actually grown exponentially since then. It is not that easy for people to really understand and penetrate the issue of data protection. But it's only a matter of time.

Why do you think so?

Offline, we naturally assume a certain privacy. When we meet in a café and talk about a sensitive matter, we do it in a lowered voice or at a somewhat secluded table. So we have very natural ways of communicating more securely. In the digital space, however, these paths do not yet exist. That must and will change.

But don't people just talk about it – and in the end it’s the fun feature in the app that counts?

If you were to ask people directly whether they want more or less data protection, most of them would arguably advocate more. The question is how to make the offer for this as simple as possible. We have simplified communication very much, we have simplified Internet searches and also the exchange of information. But all of this comes at a price that people are not aware of. This is an education gap that we have to fill. From our point of view, this only works with a not-for-profit company.

You have decided on such a form, a foundation model. There is already something similar for browsers. Could it be a general concept for internet services?

Most certainly. In our opinion, something like sustainable software can only be created if you don't strive for growth at all costs. Facebook and Google pursue pretty merciless business models that have almost something inhuman about them. At Signal, we want to prove that there are other ways to develop a modern and popular technology. We have some of the best software developers in the world with us.

But on the other hand, you need the money from rich donors like Elon Musk or Brian Acton, who co-founded Whatsapp and then invested with you.

Of course, we benefit from such large donors, who helped us a lot, especially in the beginning. But the question is, which came first? Our idea or the money?

They are planning a campaign in Germany in which they want to draw attention to data protection problems on the major platforms. Why?

Germany is a country where data protection has always played a major role. And Signal has always been very popular there. This has increased significantly again since January. We are one of the most popular apps in Germany. Now, of course, we could just do normal advertising, but we don't like that. We didn't want to just run ads that say "Download the signal!"

So it's some kind of advertising campaign?

That too, but we are also interested in an educational effect. We felt there was momentum that can be used to point out the value of greater privacy. So we thought: let's show what exactly happens when someone uses Facebook or Instagram. Why you get to see ads that are tailored to your interests. How much these platforms know about their users.

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Why are you starting this in Germany?

We felt that Germany was a good place to start. The action is then to be extended to other countries.

Germans are convinced that data protection is particularly important. Is that even true?

Yes, we think so. Germany has done a lot for it. We found that Americans can be targeted much more precisely with online advertising than people in Germany.

Messenger such as Signal, which are particularly secure, often have a similar problem: It is also attractive to criminals and terrorists – which damages the image. How can that be prevented?

Signal should make sense for a particularly large number of people. Privacy is especially helpful for marginalized and persecuted groups, but ultimately for everyone. Criminals, on the other hand, have always had access to encryption programs or software that can be used to anonymize communication. We want to make these technologies accessible to everyone. We don't have any features that are of interest to criminals or hate preachers – as is the case with other platforms. For example, it is not possible for us to address hundreds of thousands of users like with Telegram.

So, from your point of view, Telegram is not a sensible alternative?

We are often lumped together with Telegram. But in the end it is a completely different platform that is also there to address very large groups. Their encryption is not based on open source software and is not very transparent. There is little in common, apart from the fact that we both offer apps that can be downloaded onto a smartphone.

Nils Kreimeier spoke to Jun Harada

The interview first appeared on Capital.de

. (tagsToTranslate) Economy (t) Elon Musk (t) WhatsApp (t) Apps (t) Data protection