[throwaway12757]

It sounds like they are trying to increase their revenue/profits and think this is the best way. I get that it is hard, because when everyone is anonymous then it is hard to collect money from people. Perhaps make some way to donate/subscription for signal a la pay what you want? I love Signal and would pay for it if I could.

[input_sh]

1. It's not a company but an NGO. Therefore, in theory, as long as they can cover the operational cost, they should be good. Of course, there's plenty of NGOs that don't do that.

2. https://signal.org/donate/ wasn't that difficult to find.

3. Brian Acton (WhatsApp co-founder) "donated" a hundred million to it. In theory, that alone should keep them running for at least a decade, but the "donation" was more of a loan with 0% interest, meaning that Signal will have to re-pay it back at some point. Also, just to make it shadier, he happens to be the chairman of the Signal Foundation. So he loaned the money to the org he's in charge of.