Let’s say the US gov starts agressively prosecuting dissidents and certain minorities (they already do): can and should we still use signal in this case?
Definitely no. Russian government already is aggressively prosecuting dissidents and you can’t join Signal there. I don’t know whether it’s due to sanctions or if the government is blocking 2FA SMS messages. In either case, it is impossible to join without a phone number confirmation. At least I wasn’t able to. I don’t see the USA being that far off with all the recent TikTok drama.
And that’s the problem. The whole privacy thing goes out the window because it relies on an insecure and state-controlled method for authentication. What’s the use of it if it can be killed off in any country at a whim of its, or USA’s government?