Signal CEO steps down, WhatsApp co-founder takes over on an interim basis

Signal’s CEO says goodbye at the start of the new year.

what you need to know

• Signal’s chief executive Moxie Marlinspike announced that he would be stepping down.
• Brian Acton will serve as interim CEO until a new CEO is found.
• Marlinspike and Acton are both founding members of the Signal Foundation.

Popular messaging app Signal is losing its longtime chief executive Moxie Marlinspike after announcing on Monday that he was stepping down.

Marlinspike wrote in a blog post that he always wanted to make sure the app would survive beyond his involvement. Having worked on the app for almost a decade, he has done a lot to keep the app running, from writing all the Android and server code to administration. However, he explained that the app now works better without him as CEO.

Signal is now an amazing team of 30 people: made up of great engineers, super talented designers, talented and poised support staff, and a very accomplished and dedicated leadership team.
[…] We have a great leadership team who are driving product development, managing the organization and driving technology forward. Most importantly, the values ​​and mission on which Signal is built are rooted throughout the organization, where they are respected and witnessed by all involved.

Brian Acton will serve as interim CEO as Signal looks for a new leader, Marlinspike explained.Acton left to co-found Signal Foundation Facebook Meta in 2017. Before Meta acquired WhatsApp in 2014, he co-founded WhatsApp and is now a board member of the Signal Foundation.

Signal is one of the best messaging apps for Android with many of the features you’ll find in WhatsApp, including end-to-end encryption. Last year, Signal saw a flood of new users after Meta updated its privacy policy that users didn’t like much. Since then, the company has doubled down on messaging to maintain user privacy.

Stepping down is integral to “extending Signal’s success” over the next decade, said Marlinspike, who will remain on the Signal Foundation board to help guide the new CEO.