Joe Rogan on signal: what the evidence says · JRE #2143
SUBJECT: SIGNAL
Not a true/false call. Every claim is logged with its sources; read the exhibits below.
$40 million and projected to rise to 50 million by 2025. Rosenfeld boasted in 2018 that OWS never took VC venture capital funding or sought investment at any point, though mysteriously failed to mention millions were provided by the Open Technology Fund.
What the evidence says 01 / RECORD
In a November 2023 post, Signal disclosed that it expected to require approximately 50 million dollars a year to operate by 2025, so that projection is accurate, but the same post put current (2023) infrastructure spending near 14 million dollars and total operating costs closer to 33 million dollars, making the 40 million figure for 2023 somewhat high. It is true that Signal's protocol grew out of Open Whisper Systems, and that the Open Technology Fund helped incubate Signal: OTF was a program of Radio Free Asia under the US Agency for Global Media and remains dependent on US government funding. Moxie Marlinspike (legally Matthew Rosenfeld) did characterize the project as never seeking venture capital or investment, which is technically consistent with receiving grants rather than equity. The framing that this funding was hidden is misleading, however, since OTF publicly listed Signal as a supported project.