Why will the co-founder of WhatsApp replace the CEO of Signal?
The CEO of the encrypted messaging app Signal resigns and will be replaced on an interim basis by the co-founder of rival WhatsApp. What's going on
New year and new summit for Signal, the end-to-end encrypted messaging app.
CEO Moxie Marlinspike steps aside. He will be replaced by Brian Acton, co-founder of WhatsApp (owned by Facebook, now Meta) appointed interim CEO of Signal.
In a blog post on Monday, Marlinspike said he decided it was a "good time to step down" as CEO after nearly a decade in the role. This is "an important step in expanding Signal's success," he added.
The controversy over WhatsApp in early 2021 had spurred the popularity of alternative apps like Telegram and Signal. After WhatsApp announced changes to its privacy terms of service, Signal had recorded 8.8 million downloads globally, according to Sensor Tower analysts.
THE NEW GOVERNANCE OF SIGNAL
He will no longer be at the helm of the company, but Marlinspike will remain on Signal's board he said in the post.
Brian Acton, who co-founded WhatsApp in 2009, has "voluntarily offered" to take on the position of interim chief executive as the group sought a replacement candidate, Marlinspike added.
WHO IS BRIAN ACTON
Acton, who will take over as interim CEO when Marlinspike leaves the role next month, sold WhatsApp to Facebook in 2014 for $ 22 billion.
Acton left Facebook in September 2017 after disagreements with CEO Mark Zuckerberg over how to monetize WhatsApp. With its release, the co-founder of WhatsApp also lost up to $ 850 million in shares, since the rights to that final tranche of shares had not yet vested.
Since leaving the scene in Menlo Park, Acton has invested $ 50 million in the Signal app – a worthy rival to his ex-daughter WhatsApp.
CO-FOUNDER OF SIGNAL FOUNDATION …
Together with Marlinspike, Acton co-founded the Signal Foundation, a nonprofit organization focused on developing “open source privacy technologies” for communications and is the progenitor of the Signal messaging app.
… AND FACEBOOK CRITIC
Meanwhile, the co-founder of WhatsApp has become a fervent critic of the social media platform Facebook. Acton popularized the #deletefacebook hashtag during the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
THE FUTURE OF THE APP
As Axios reports, Signal is progressing. It is now a go-to app for journalists, activists, and anyone looking for secure, private communications.
However, the recent decision to integrate a Signal cryptocurrency untraceable – signals Ft – in its app to facilitate peer-to-peer anonymous payments has raised concerns that might attract illegal activities. In addition to the lens of the regulators.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/perche-il-co-fondatore-di-whatsapp-sostituira-il-ceo-di-signal/ on Wed, 12 Jan 2022 06:49:47 +0000.