An interesting thing about conspiracy theories is that they functionally serve to direct attention away from obvious, straightforward, and plausible truths — which even if unintentional, kind of makes them… the ultimate conspiracy.
I see this play out in the Signal conspiracy theories that come up every week. Although honestly, sometimes the most disappointing thing is how unimaginative they are.
Can’t I at least be a reptilian lizard person, or something a little more creative than an unlikely CIA agent?
He often does deflect whenever there are legitimate criticisms made.
For the record also, I never called marlinspike a CIA asset, otherwise why would he decry some of the US’s staunch allies like UAE and turkey.
But it is undeniable that signal got a good amount of funding from radio free asia, and that its an un-self-hostable, centralized US messaging service, with mandatory phone numbers.
These wouldn’t be acceptable for any privacy-oriented messaging app, and people are similarly blinded in their devotion to signal in the same way they are to apple: because of its UX and other features.