Warning Signal: the messaging app’s new features are causing internal turmoil https://www.theverge.com/22249391/signal-app-abuse-messaging-employees-violence-misinformation

I've been reflecting on this for a while now.

First, I think what's really being flagged in the article is that all technologies are laden with politics: if you think a technology that you use isn't political, it's likely aligned with your explicit or implicit politics.

Second, that doesn't mean the goal is to make technology 'neutral'. You can't do that, as human creations are born of our incentives, interests, desires, fears, and aspirations, and situated in specific cultures and times.

What needs to be done? Founders and engineers and product staff and marketers etc should carefully think about how the politics of a technology might be borne out outside of the coven of ideologically/politically aligned people who are the intended users of a technology.

Does that mean Signal should inherently be shuttered or entirely transformed or let alone? No.

But it does mean we should critically assess the politics of technology--and their implications or externalities--as 'software eats the world' (i.e. we deploy new forms of technology)

(This is a reason why I firmly believe that assessments of technologies should involve engineers, lawyers, AND humanities/social sciences experts. This third category of folks have the backgrounds to think more broadly about technologies; we ignore their expertise at our peril)