Meredith Whittaker, president of Signal, stated that the app is the “gold standard in private comms” in a post on X, emphasizing its security advantages over WhatsApp. Signal is open-source and nonprofit, focusing on end-to-end encryption and privacy. US downloads of Signal increased by 16% in the first quarter of 2025 compared to the previous quarter, and by 25% year-over-year. Whittaker highlighted that WhatsApp collects metadata, which can reveal communication patterns, while Signal collects very little user data. A WhatsApp spokesperson defended the platform's use of metadata for spam prevention and service integrity, stating they do not track personal messages for advertising.