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Encrypted message appSignalcontinues to see empale downloads in the Wake Island of the message scandal that see to it The Atlantic ’s editor - in - headman Jeffrey Goldberg added to a group confab where high - grade officials in theTrump presidential term were discussing an attack on Houthi rebel in Yemen . The result pressure coverage around the outflow of these tender programme has been driving more people to check out Signal ’s app for the first time , leading to a doubling of its downloads .
According to app intelligence operation providerAppfigures , downloads rise by 26 % on the day the news broke , an indication that users were curious about the app being used by member of the Trump establishment . The next day , downloads jumped to 193,000 and by Wednesday gain an all - time high of 195,000 , the firm noted .
By equivalence , Signal typically picture an average of 95,000 downloads on an intermediate day .
Appfigures has been track the impact of the scandal on Signal ’s app from day one . It earlier constitute that Signal appdownloads across iOS and Google Play had jumped up 28%on the Monday when the news ab initio intermit , with U.S. downloads up by 45 % and downloads in Yemen up by 42 % .
The Trump government activity has give notice the seriousness of the incident , where The Atlantic journalist was circumstantially added to a radical chat between officials .
Although Secretary of Defense Peter Hegseth , who was in the Old World chat with VP J.D. Vance and others , deniedthat “ state of war plans ” were shared through the encrypted chat app , The Atlantic laterpublishedthe full message thread which showed officials discuss the time , location , and weapons the U.S. would apply in the attack . Trump hassince study to attacking the mediafor its continued reporting of the incident .
Signal ’s app itself was not compromise to allow for this leak . rather , the diary keeper was accidently added to the thread . National Security Adviser Michael Waltz has accepted responsibility for spend a penny the group chatter in the first place but hasdeflected blameover the embarrassing error .
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Appfigures chalks up the doubling of downloads to the onetime byword “ all press is honorable press , ” as the scandal increased Signal ’s visibleness and likely introduced the app to thousands of user for the first clip .
