SignalGate, as it’s come to be called, may be the biggest scandal to hit the Trump administration in its first months in power. But it’s been great for Signal.
Since the news broke on Monday that senior Trump administration cabinet members accidentally included the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic in a group chat on the Signal encrypted messaging platform where the officials were making secret plans to bomb Yemen, the ensuing news cycle and the constant mentions of Signal have led to the encrypted messaging platform doubling its usual rate of new downloads, the non-profit organization that runs Signal tells WIRED. Given that 2025 so far has already been a “banner year” for Signal’s growth, according to Signal’s leadership, that makes this week the single biggest bump in US adoption of the app in Signal’s nearly 11 years of existence.
“In Signal’s history, this is the largest…
