Mark Zuckerberg is using Signal, according to phone number leaked in Facebook hack

Mark Zuckerberg is just like us.

Well, only in that he also appears to be using the secure messaging app Signal, despite owning WhatsApp, one of its largest competitors.

Cybersecurity researcher Dave Walker discovered that the Facebook CEO was among the 533 million users whose personal information was leaked online after a Facebook hack in 2019.

"Regarding the #FacebookLeak, of the 533M people in the leak — the irony is that Mark Zuckerberg is regrettably included in the leak as well," Walker tweeted. He redacted part of Zuckerberg's number, but says he found that Zuckerberg's leaked phone number was associated with a Signal account — the chat app that has end-to-end encryption and is a direct competitor to Facebook's WhatsApp.

The method used to obtain the private information from Facebook has been patched, a company spokesperson confirmed to Mashable. But the spokesperson did not comment about whether Zuckerberg's information was among the data that was leaked. 

In response to Walker's discovery, Signal had a little fun, tweeting a link to a story about Zuckerberg's Signal account, writing, "With the May 15th WhatsApp Terms of Service acceptance deadline fast approaching, Mark leads by example."

WhatsApp's updated privacy policy — which was initially planned to be implemented on Feb. 8 but was put on hold after public backlash — includes changes "related to optional business features on WhatsApp, and provides further transparency about how we collect and use data," WhatsApp said in a blog post. The update will not affect "the privacy and security" of personal messages and calls, which will still be protected by end-to-end encryption, according to the post.

Users who don't accept the WhatsApp changes will not be able to read or send messages, but will be able to receive calls and notifications for "a short time." If you're affected by the changes, you can always delete your account, download a report of it, export your chat history, and head to another chat service with end-to-end encryption.