With over 100 million users, the encrypted messaging service app Signal is touted as private and secure; however, a new report reveals the app was allegedly not only launched with government funds but is headed by National Public Radio’s (NPR) CEO, Katherine Maher.

Christopher Rufo, a conservative activist and senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, released a piece Monday about the alleged connections between the U.S. government, Maher and Signal. The platform, which prides itself on privacy for users, has been endorsed by notable figures, including National Security Agency (NSA) whistleblower Eric Snowden, Tesla and Space X founder Elon Musk and former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey.

Signal’s technological foundation, however, was originally funded “in part” by government resources, Rufo claims. The technology — used in the Facebook messaging app, WhatsApp — for the platform — which also ran as a nonprofit foundation — reportedly received a $3 million grant awarded by government agency Open Technology Fund (OTF) sometime between 2013 and 2016, according to Voice of America (VOA).

While the OTF is reportedly a spin-off of a government-funded private news service, Radio Free Asia, the technology fund claims their goal is to “advance internet freedom in repressive environments by supporting the research, development, implementation, and maintenance of technologies that counter censorship and combat repressive surveillance to enable all citizens to exercise their fundamental human rights online,” according to their site.

Awards from the OTF to technology platforms are not uncommon; a 2020 VOA report shows the government agency awarded millions to others in addition to OTF. The connection between OTF and Signal, though, is allegedly deeper than just the grant. An anonymous source who “worked extensively with OTF” claimed to Rufo that, over time, it appeared “the project was actually a State Department-connected initiative that planned to wield open source Internet projects made by hacker communities as tools for American foreign policy goals.” The initiative allegedly empowered “activists [and] parties opposed to governments that the USA doesn’t like,” Rufo reported. (Read more from “Supposedly Secure Messaging App Launched With Gov’t Funds, Headed By Propagandist Now Running NPR: Report” HERE)