Snopes - Yes, Biden admin authorized use of Signal -- but not for sensitive military intel

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Key Points

Claims that former U.S. President Joe Biden's administration initially authorized the use of Signal by government officials spread in late March 2025 after The Atlantic reported national security officials in President Donald Trump's administration accidentally added the magazine's editor-in-chief to a Signal group chat about military strikes in Yemen.

While the Biden administration may have allowed some use of Signal — based on public guidance from the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency — it explicitly did not allow use of Signal to communicate "non-public" Department of Defense information, which would have included the conversations Trump administration officials had in their group chat.

An anonymous former national security official told The Associated Press that those with permission to download Signal on their White House phones were "instructed to use the app sparingly." It was not possible to independently verify this claim, and it was unclear whether intelligence agencies aside from DOD and the cybersecurity agency issued policies or guidance about using Signal under the Biden administration.

After The Atlantic's March 24, 2025, report (archived) that U.S. national intelligence officials included the magazine's editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, in a group chat about military strikes in Yemen, CIA Director John Ratcliffe claimed that former U.S. President Joe Biden's administration also used Signal for government communications.

https://www.snopes.com/news/2025/03/27/biden-authorized-signal/