"Signal was reportedly popularized in the United States during the George Floyd protests. As U.S. protests gained momentum, on June 3, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey tweeted a recommendation for users to download Signal Messenger.[71] Heightened awareness of police monitoring led protesters to use the app to communicate.

Black Lives Matter organizers had used the app "for several years".[72][45] During the first week of June, the encrypted messaging app was downloaded over five times more than it had been during the week prior to the death of George Floyd.[72] In June 2020, Signal Foundation announced a new feature that enables users to blur faces in photos, in response to increased federal efforts to monitor protesters."