I'm not part of the Signal project, and I do want a full explanation for this (eventually), but let's remember that people's lives are literally on the line here. Getting caught using Signal by the regime could get you imprisoned or killed.

I'm extremely anti-censorship, yet I could see myself doing something similar (deleting comments) because there is serious risk of imminent danger here, and this report does not follow responsible disclosure. It's bad enough when irresponsible disclosure affects people's data security or identity, but consider when it affects their ability to live free or to live at all.

I've been a security researcher and very much subscribe to the theory that burying exploit/vulnerability information mostly helps the black hats, but not only does this NOT follow responsible disclosure, but this one is also an unusual and imminent/real time situation. Helping the regime catch people is no doubt an unintended consequence, but it's an unintended consequence I would never want on me.

I hope that Signal immediately reached out privately to work with these researchers. If not, Signal is in the wrong here. I tend to worry that if the researchers spoke to media, then Signal either didn't reach out or didn't explain things well. Both are not good.

The cat is out of the bag, and as mentioned before I hope to get a full explanation, but I'd rather be patient than endanger lives.