Elon Musk’s X blocks links to Signal, the encrypted messaging service

Signal has been a primary method of communication for federal workers looking to blow the whistle on DOGE.

Elon Musk’s social media platform, X, is currently banning links to “Signal.me,” a URL used by the encrypted messaging service Signal. The “Signal.me” domain is specifically used by the service so that users can send out a quick link to directly contact them through the messaging app.

X, formerly Twitter, is blocking users from posting a “Signal.me” link through DM, public post, or even in their profile page. When trying to post a Signal link, users receive a variety of different “message failed” prompts depending on what version of the X platform they use (i.e. X for web, X for iPhone, etc.)

“We can’t complete this request because this link has been identified by X or our partners as being potentially harmful,” reads one failure prompt when attempting to post a “Signal.me” link on X.

“This request looks like it might be automated” reads another prompt. “To protect our users from spam and other malicious activity, we can’t complete this action right now. Please try again later.”

An attempt to add a “Signal.me” link in a profile bio resulted in an error message saying “Account update failed. Description is considered malware.”

X is also blocking users from clicking existing “Signal.me” links published prior to the URL’s ban.

Users who attempt to click on a “Signal.me” link already posted to X are currently met with a warning page from X that reads “Warning: this link may be unsafe. The link you are trying to access has been identified by X or our partners as being potentially spammy or unsafe, in accordance with X's URL Policy.“ However, users are given the choice to ignore the warning and click an additional link on the warning page to direct to the original “Signal.me” URL.

Its unclear when X blocked “Signal.me” links on the platform. However, it seems like a fairly recent change as users have previously been able to include “Signal.me” links in public posts and in their profile bio. Other Signal links, such as Signal.org, do not appear to be blocked. Only the “Signal.me” URLs which are used to directly contact users through the app appear to be affected.

It appears that Signal is the only service currently affected. Links to other similar third-party services, such as URLs to contact users on Telegram, are allowed on X.

Security researchers at Mysk first noticed the issue on Sunday night, Feb. 16. They reached out to me via DM and we were able to confirm the various different ways (DM, post, profile bio, etc.) that X was blocking “Signal.me” links.

Signal has been an important tool for journalists over the years as really one of the few services that are truly private. All messages are end-to-end encrypted, everything is stored on device, and no content is kept on any Signal servers in the cloud. If a source wants to reach out to a reporter and be sure their communication would be as confidential as possible, Signal is usually one of the primary methods of choice.

Needless to say, Signal has been especially important over these past few weeks as federal employees have reached out to journalists to blow the whistle on what Elon Musk’s DOGE have been doing with access to data within numerous government agencies.

As of publishing, Signal users can still post their Signal handle on X, which users can then copy and paste into the Signal app.

Anyone who has tips or other news that they’d like to securely send my way can reach me on Signal @MattBinder.01 or via my direct “Signal.me” link: https://signal.me/#eu/P01wpUmC4nT2BBTwMrPAw7Nxcp81055tKHGbYwCkQbo7TNzMHPRKWquiWEttS85C