A growing number of UG staff are trading in WhatsApp for Signal – the university and faculty boards have been using it for a while. But the transition is not without its complications.
In the past few months, Signal has become one of the most downloaded free apps in the Netherlands. Similar to WhatsApp, many people prefer it thanks to its better data privacy. And UG employees are no exception.
In fact, the Signal v. WhatsApp debate has been a longstanding topic at the university. ‘In 2020, our Data Protection and Impact Assessment (DPIA) concluded that UG work-related communication should move to Signal, especially in times of crisis’, says Oskar Gstrein, director of the data science and society programme.
Signal, he explains, offers better protection of metadata. Neither can access the content of your conversations, but Signal functions as a non-profit organisation, depending on donations, while WhatsApp, owned by Meta, wants to make money. ‘So it collects information like who you’re talking to, when, and how often, and uses it to build a profile. That’s why it can be free.’
Boards on Signal
Because of such privacy concerns, the UG board of directors began using Signal around four years ago. ‘When we have a crisis, we communicate in a Signal group, which disappears once the crisis ends’, spokesperson Anja Hulshof says. ‘We still use WhatsApp, but only for public information, like sharing an article.’
Following the DPIA, the faculty boards also moved to Signal. ‘We discussed the privacy issues it highlighted and decided to switch’, says dean of arts Thony Visser. Her board has been using Signal as its main communication channel for the past two years. ‘I was already on Signal privately at the time.’
More recently, in February, the Faculty of Arts formally advised its staff to adopt Signal as well. Why now? ‘Because there is a growing sense of urgency’, Visser claims. ‘We see more cases of insecure data, and a lot of communication via electronic platforms being attacked.’
The faculty’s yearly privacy and security report also contributed to this. ‘Our privacy officer advised us on how to build more security in data issues’, she says. ‘Now, we hope everyone will follow.’
Collective action
However, making this transition isn’t as easy as it sounds, Lukas Linsi, chair of the Young Academy Groningen (YAG), thinks. ‘You can’t just leave WhatsApp on your own, it needs collective action.’ There had been conversations within YAG about Big Tech dependency for a while, but it wasn’t until Trump’s reelection that they fully transitioned to Signal. ‘That’s when people got motivated to do it.’
Privacy aside, it became a matter of principle. ‘Because WhatsApp is just a small puzzle piece in the bigger picture’, Linsi says.
Others share similar turning points. ‘Trump’s reelection was the breaking point. I reinstalled Signal after three years of not using it’, says Ochi Taichi, project leader of the open science community. ‘In the current climate, I think it’s for the best. It’s safer.’
Entrenched
Yet even as Signal gains popularity, Taichi, just like other staff members, can’t quit WhatsApp completely. ‘It’s so entrenched in daily life. I’m happy to be an early adopter, but it will take so much more time and effort to convince the other 80 percent of the people to join’, he says. And until then, he still needs to be in the WhatsApp parents’ group chat for his daughter’s school.
‘It’s a practical compromise’, says Gerard Ritsema van Eck, assistant professor in IT law, who faces the same challenge. He has been using Signal for years and has convinced his family and many of his friends to switch. He even uses it at work, as the main communication platform for the Science Faction in the university council. ‘But many groups are still on WhatsApp.’
Even so, he sees Signal is growing. ‘It’s a little bump. I don’t know why, but the switch seems to become easier.’ Gstrein recognises this trend too. But while both agree on the benefits of using Signal, Gstrein is also wary about it.
‘It’s still a US-based platform. And it’s not a business.’ If the US government ever invokes national security issues, Signal can’t really protect its users’ data, he believes. ‘It lacks the money that Big Tech companies have. We need something like Signal, but able to defend itself in case of government intrusion.’