Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk-backed private messaging app Signal saw user signups soar through the global outage that hit Facebook Inc’s FB network of apps and services on Monday.
What Happened: Millions of users signed up for the free cross-platform messaging app following a near six-hour global outage that also shut down WhatsApp messenger services along with Facebook and Instagram, Signal revealed on Twitter on Monday.
The free and open-source messaging app that is endorsed by Edward Snowden said “millions of new people” joined the app and the company was working hard to fix glitches. Signal said some people are not seeing all of their contacts appear on the app.
Signal focuses on privacy and claims it does not collect any data on its users.
See Also: Elon Musk Discloses Funding WhatsApp Rival Signal, Says Will 'Donate More'
Why It Matters: The massive global outage left more than 3.5 billion users of Facebook and subsidiaries Instagram and WhatsApp high and dry and forced the company to issue an apology on rival social media platform Twitter Inc TWTR.
Facebook was also subject to memes and jabs as traffic flowed to Twitter. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey joined those taking dig at Facebook and offered to buy the beleaguered social media firm’s domain name.
Dorsey shared a tweet by Edward Snowden, which encouraged WhatsApp users to shift to Signal — a privacy-centric messaging platform.
The latest Facebook outage and the recent “60 Minutes” whistleblower interview reportedly wiped out about $7 billion from Mark Zuckerburg’s personal wealth.
Price Action: FB shares closed 4.89% lower at $326.23 on Monday.
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