Elon Musk Discloses Funding WhatsApp Rival Signal, Says Will 'Donate More'

Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk said Monday that he is a benefactor to the messaging app Signal. 

What Happened: The entrepreneur said on Twitter early Monday that he had donated to Signal a year ago and he will “donate more.”

The free and open-source messaging app saw a surge of users after Musk endorsed it earlier last week in a separate tweet. 

Use Signal

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 7, 2021

Musk had taken to Twitter after the attack on the United States Capitol by the supporters of outgoing President Trump and made a thinly veiled attack on social networks, specifically Facebook Inc FB and its CEO Mark Zuckerberg, without directly naming any individual or entity.

See Also: Mixed Signals: Elon Musk Tweet About Messaging App Sends People Rushing To Buy Unrelated Stock

Why It Matters: Facebook — the owner of the rival messaging app WhatsApp — is also mired in controversy after it unveiled a new privacy policy for the latter, which comes into effect in February, reported the Verge.

The privacy policy reportedly no longer provides users the option to opt-out of data sharing with Facebook but instead outlines how WhatsApp will share data with its social networking parent.

Data to be shared includes “battery level, signal strength, app version, browser information, mobile network and connection information (including phone number, mobile operator or ISP), language and time zone, IP address, device operations information, and identifiers," Forbes reported.

The privacy policy changes are aimed at facilitating data sharing between Facebook and WhatsApp and does not effectively change consumer chats, according to a Facebook spokesperson.

However, the social media backlash has meant that WhatsApp users are opting to join Signal, an app co-founded by Brian Action, who was also a WhatsApp co-founder and has been critical of the latter’s privacy policies, as per the Verge.

Price Action: Tesla shares closed nearly 7.8% higher at $880.02 on Friday and fell 1.42% to $867.50 in the after-hours session. On the same day, Facebook shares closed nearly 0.4% lower at $267.57 and fell 0.14% in the after-hours session.

See Also: How To Invest in Tesla Stock

Photo by Heisenberg Media on Flickr