B
NARRATIVE VALUE
Certainty
●●○ medium
ABCDEFG
There is no confirmed −; independently verified + decide the position (B). No unreachable strike-through.= non-additive meter
As of: 2026-Q4Status: ActiveCeiling reason: No confirmed −
History2026-Q4BHistory grows each quarter
Signal Foundation: An encrypted messenger with no advertisers and no investors. The letter is B; certainty is medium. Unconfirmed concerns are placed under “Watching.” (As of 2026-Q4; estimate based on public information.)
Main narrative
In 2018 Brian Acton, co-founder of WhatsApp, put $50 million of his own money into creating the Signal Foundation — a vessel that would let the encrypted messenger Signal continue without advertisers or investors. Moxie Marlinspike, who led the engineering, chose a design that holds neither the content of messages nor the trail of who spoke to whom and when. What the operator does not hold, it cannot hand over when asked.
Users numbered between 70 and 100 million monthly as of April 2025. Journalists, human-rights defenders, people fleeing violence and people living ordinary lives all use the same app — and because everyone uses it, using it is not in itself a signal of suspicion. Income comes only from donations: about $29.4 million in 2024, of which roughly $21.8 million was contributions. Refusing the advertising model is what protects the single promise not to sell users' data.
One person’s story (N1)
+ A single story
The benefit appears collectively. Journalists, human-rights defenders, people fleeing violence and people living ordinary lives use the same app — and because everyone uses it, using it is not in itself a signal of suspicion. Monthly users numbered 70-100 million as of April 2025. The operator holds neither message content nor a record of who spoke to whom, and so cannot hand it over. Source type: independent (reporting and public filings)
Source nature: T2 industry media. Positive effects are not used to offset negatives.
Positive / negative effects
+ effects
- The positive side of this assessment rests on the single story (N1) above and its source. A per-item ledger of positive effects has not yet been compiled for this organization.T2 industry media
Watching (unconfirmed; not counted in the assessment)- The gap between annual requirement and donation income
- regulatory debates over encryption
Looking ahead (not included in the assessment)- Moving towards a sustainable donation-funded model.
A second look
The organization has said it needs roughly $50 million a year, and the gap against donation income is widening. If the money runs out, the design itself cannot be sustained. How to fund what it is trying to protect is the open question.
Sources
How to read this assessment
A Independently verified +, with no confirmed −
B Leans +, with independent backing
C Mixed. A confirmed − sets the ceiling, or much is unverified
D A serious confirmed − sets the ceiling
E A serious − reaches the core of the organization
F Serious and systemic, with little redeeming +
G Only extreme cases
Out of scope An entity whose core purpose is illegal
On hold Independent evidence is scarce on both + and −
- Reachable upper bound (ceiling): a confirmed − sets the ceiling, and independently verified + decide the position within it. + do not cancel out −.
- The weight of evidence is not symmetric: only confirmed − are counted; the volume of disputes or allegations goes under “Watching.” + are counted from independent evidence, while an organization’s own PR is treated as “reference.”
- Size is not value: scale is not used in the assessment. Matters that stay within money or competition—investors, shareholders, sanctions, trade secrets—are also excluded.
- The letter (assessment) and certainty (how reliable the information is) are separate axes.
This is a translation; the Japanese version is authoritative. The assessments here are generated automatically by AI based on published criteria. The operator does not alter individual results. Because they are AI-generated they may contain errors, and they are opinion and commentary, not statements of fact. Where evidence is insufficient, the entry is marked “On hold.” Requests for correction are accepted via the form.
Terms: Narrative Value = an assessment (A–G) of the distance between the narrative an organization tells and its reality / Ceiling meter = a visualization of the reachable upper bound / Watching = unconfirmed matters not counted / Protected stakeholders = people, animals, nature, and future generations. | Generated by: AI | As of: 2026-Q4 | Back to top