Millions migrate to Signal as WhatsApp suffers hours-long outage

The six hours-long system outage of WhatsApp on Monday caused millions to migrate to the messaging app 'Signal', Bloomberg reported. Signal tweeted that millions of new users signed up on the app on Monday.

Facebook had sustained a six-hour-long system outage, affecting WhatsApp and Instagram it owned, shutting down many of its 2.7 billion users worldwide. The situation idled some of the employees in the company and prompted the chief technology officer for a public apology. Thousands of rooms on audio-chat app Clubhouse talked about the outage, the Clubhouse spokesperson informed.

But other social media platforms milked the opportunity to gather users as many left Facebook-owned apps. Twitter Inc.'s network stayed alive while its Chief Executive Officer Jack Dorsey tweeted his endorsement of Signal as an alternative to WhatsApp. His tweets amplified Edward Snowden's urging to his followers to move away from WhatsApp. Telegram, another messenger app, has also added millions of users during WhatsApp's outage.

Signal has promised through its policy that they don't collect data on users. This, in turn, avoid situations where governments may pressure it to disclose the personal information of users. This has made them an excellent platform for secure communications.