In March 2025, the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg, found himself added to a group chat.
It was on Signal. The other members included the US national security adviser, the Defense Secretary, the Vice President and other senior officials. And in it, they discussed imminent military strikes on the Houthis in Yemen.
Goldberg had been added by mistake by the national security adviser, Mike Waltz. Weeks later Waltz left that role and was nominated as ambassador to the UN. In December 2025, the Pentagon’s inspector general reported that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s use of Signal to share sensitive strike details had put US personnel and their mission at risk, while also concluding that he had not improperly declassified information.
Most of the commentary asked whether Signal was secure enough. I think that was the wrong question.
Signal wasn’t the problem. Signal did exactly what it was built to do. The problem was that a consumer app, chosen because it was quick and familiar, had quietly become part of the machinery for decisions about war. Nobody designed that. It just happened, one convenient message at a time.
Now look at your own work.
Where do your most important conversations actually live? A WhatsApp group? A Facebook page? A LinkedIn inbox? An email account you set up in 2011? None of these were chosen as infrastructure. They became infrastructure by accident.
That’s the thing about rented land. It never feels rented while it’s working.
This is one of the ideas I explore in The Media Ecosystem Blueprint: the difference between the channels you use and the foundations you own, and why most people only find out which is which when something breaks.
So here’s what I’m curious about. If one of the platforms your work depends on disappeared tomorrow, which would hurt most, and what exactly would you lose?
The Media Ecosystem Blueprint by Kizzi Nkwocha: https://a.co/d/08BnZLkj
#Signalgate, #USPolitics, #DigitalInfrastructure, #PlatformRisk, #OwnedMedia, #SmallBusiness, #CreatorEconomy, #BusinessResilience, #MediaEcosystem, #Entrepreneurship, #KizziNkwocha, #TheMediaEcosystemBlueprint
Want more like this?
Get an occasional email when there’s something new worth reading. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
By subscribing you agree to receive occasional emails about new releases. Unsubscribe anytime by replying to any email.