In times of war, fake news spread widely and quickly. The propagation of fake news is reaching new levels in this era, as conflicts are being fought ever more radically and in innovative ways. With the introduction of modern Hybrid warfare, fake news is being used as a weapon. The weaponization of misinformation amid the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian war is still dominating the online web.
As rumors hit high-tech companies, the Signal instant messaging application got pulled into the war between Russia and Ukraine. Rumors circulating on Telegram and WhatsApp claimed that the Signal messaging platform had been "broken and hacked.” Signal promptly announced that the rumors were fake.
In a tweet, Signal stated that it was seeing an increase in usage in Eastern Europe and that rumor messages were frequently attributed to official government sources that read "an attack on Signal's platform."
"This is false, and Signal was not attacked," the company stated, as reported by Reuters. They also stated that these rumors were part of a coordinated deception campaign "intended to encourage people to use less secure alternatives."
The star of the Signal application started to rise after WhatsApp users were informed that they would be required to share some personal data with its parent company, Facebook, on February 8. WhatsApp users are required to consent to Facebook and its subsidiaries collecting WhatsApp data such as users' phone numbers, contacts' phone numbers, locations, and more.
Following WhatsApp's announcement, Signal received a lot of attention, with public figures like Elon Musk and Edward Snowden endorsing the app as a WhatsApp alternative.
Signal's remarks came after a wave of cyberattacks that took down Ukrainian banking and government websites, Russian state-owned websites, and Ukrainian state-run media outlets.
Signal has never been hacked so far, and its encryption is among the best available on the consumer market.
WhatsApp's relatively vague in-app privacy update sent users fleeing to different, more secure apps. The company quickly took a defensive stance, stating on Twitter, assuring users that they will continue to protect their privacy.
Following WhatsApp's announcement that it would soon require users to share app data with Facebook, its parent company, Signal soon became one of the best-encrypted messaging apps available. It was downloaded more than 7.5 million times last week.
Signal has threatened to cease operations in the United States if the country's latest anti-encryption legislation is passed. The company issued a blog post in April 2020 addressing its concerns about the EARN IT act, which proposes significant changes to a company's legal liability to its customers.
The EARN IT Act (Eliminating Abusive and Rampant Neglect of Interactive Technologies) seeks to significantly alter Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has called Section 230 "the most important law protecting internet speech."
Another encrypted messaging service, Telegram, was also downloaded 9 million times last week. This is a 91 percent increase over the previous week. However, Telegram has been hinting that it would eventually add advertising to its service.
With all the rumors going around, people’s trust in technology is drifting away. We can see more and more people going back to old phones, especially with International reports which recently surfaced detailing the use of the Pegasus spyware program to infiltrate the smartphones of officials, activists, dissidents, and journalists all over the world.
Misbar’s sources:
Signal App
Amnesty
Business insider
Pcmag
Surviveearnit
WhatsApp
Reuters
