The President of the European Council, Charles Michel, at the headquarters of the institution in Brussels on May 27, 2021.POOL / Reuters
Concerns about security and the recent changes imposed by Facebook in the terms of conditions of its WhatsApp messaging platform have led various institutions of the European Union to decide to migrate part of their communications to Signal, a rival US company, which they consider is Safer.
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"The main reason for this change is the new terms and conditions imposed by Facebook to make its messaging platform, which make us doubt that the integrity of the data can be maintained," explained Alatin Taverriti, spokesman for the Council of Europe. Journalists accredited to the European Union recently received this message from the institution's press department. “If it is not already installed on your devices, search for Signal at (https://www.signal.org/). Please join the equivalent Signal group as soon as possible using the link below. In a few days the date of elimination of the WhatsApp groups will be announced, after which all communications will be made only through the Signal groups.We will closely monitor the number of people joining the new Signal groups before announcing the deadline. " Not all groups have yet migrated to the new platform.
At the beginning of February, the European Commission already communicated to its employees a message on the Commission's internal message boards notifying employees of the change. "Signal has been selected as the recommended application for public instant messaging," said the message accessed by the Politico portal.
The Commission has its own tools and secure networks and computers for diplomatic contacts, such as the so-called Rescom, which allows these communication platforms to be used through a protected infrastructure, thus duplicating security, a European source has explained to Efe. There are also own encryption systems such as Zeus, an external device with a program that allows you to send an email through a commercial platform that the recipient can only read if they also have a Zeus terminal. In the European Parliament (PE), its spokesman, Jaume Duch, has explained to the Efe agency that now it is used "especially WhatsApp", although they are "thinking of moving to Signal because it seems safer, but it will always be an optional matter ”.
The decision of the three community institutions comes after WhatsApp modified its conditions of use in mid-May to share more data with Facebook, its parent since 2014. However, the EC had already set the goal of replacing WhatsApp in 2020 by Signal at least in some diplomatic delegations, according to documents consulted by Efe.
Signal is an encrypted messaging application, which, unlike WhatsApp, is built with open source. Its creator, Brian Acton, is one of the founders of WhatsApp and also one of the most critical voices with Facebook. The app definitely rose to fame in 2018 as the app recommended by Edward Snowden, the former NSA and CIA employee who revealed the massive US spy programs after helping to build them. That year, it was chosen as one of the safest in the world by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, since it was one of the few that met all security requirements. In January, during the days after the announcement of changes in Facebook policies, it became one of the three most downloaded applications in Spain, although its boom has waned over time.
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