Thread by @CaseyNewton

🧵 Today’s issue of @platformer is a look at the battle inside Signal. The company is developing features that would make it vulnerable to abuse — and employees are sounding the alarm
platformer.news/p/-the-battle-…

The WhatsApp privacy policy disaster has been a boon to the company. I’m told that it now has 40 million users, up from an estimated 20 million last month

But by adding features like group links, and working on features like usernames and crypto payments, employees tell me it’s gradually opening up avenues of abuse.

Because it’s encrypted, and doesn't amplify posts, Signal has resisted having a content policy for 6+ years. It can’t “see” the content, so why have a policy?

But crypto payments will bring bad actors. Usernames will bring impersonation and fraud. And employees say their concerns are falling on deaf ears.

One spoke to me on the record about why he quit the company: “It’s not only that Signal doesn’t have these policies in place. But they’ve been resistant to even considering what a policy might look like.”

CEO Moxie Marlinspike told me: “The thing about software is that you never can fully anticipate everything. We just have to be willing to iterate.”

Meanwhile, WhatsApp cofounder Brian Acton has become heavily involved in daily operations at Signal, interviewing engineers and writing code, I’m told. Call it #deletefacebook, phase 2.

You can read the full report here. If you like it, consider supporting more independent accountability journalism: platformer.news/subscribe

And I'm proud to co-publish this one with @verge, where the @alexcas_io illustrations are fantastic as usual theverge.com/22249391/signa…