I think people forget that Signal’s model prioritizes security and privacy but not necessarily anonymity. Signal began as TextSecure, an E2EE SMS application, so phone numbers were originally a core part of its functionality. Apart from that, phone numbers are superior for contact discovery, and that’s primarily how Signal garnered such a large userbase. I suspect phone numbers are how they keep bots to a minimum as well.

Do I think Signal should still ditch the phone number requirement? Yes. I’ve been waiting for it, actually. But they’ve probably been working on a way of doing it that doesn’t significantly alter their current landscape.

Also, what is Twitter still king of at this point? Dysfunction, division, and data exploitation?