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Signal warns it would pull out of Canada if made to comply with lawful access bill
(www.theglobeandmail.com)
this post was submitted on 23 May 2026
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I dont understand how they will pull out of canada... will the google play store have geo-restrictions on installing the apk?
or will they just deactivate any account with a canadian phone number?
Pulling out is super easy. Just don't release a compromised version of the app. Done.
If the app in its current form doesn't comply with Canadian law, then the play store can't legally distribute it. So, problem solved.
So basically Signal can pull out of Canada by doing nothing different than they're already doing.
As for the users who already have the app installed, well that's just too bad for Canada isn't it.
Probably the same way Imgur dealt with the UK age verification. If you're from the UK, you are basically IP blocked from Imgur.
It's possible Signal could stop distributing the app through the Play Store and Apple App Store within Canada. Signal is likely to shut off all servers they rent that are hosted inside of Canada at the very least.
In terms of them deactivating people's accounts registered with Canadian numbers that seems less likely to me.
Even if they potentially blocked Canadian IP addresses, Signal already has support for proxies built in and those are ran by diverse people throughout the world. Some individuals host them.
This isn't exactly the same since each situation with each country is different in terms of the law but Signal is banned in some countries such as Iran, Qatar, UAE and others already and people still use Signal by using Signal TLS proxies, VPNs, and other censorship circumvention tools such as Tor.
They didn't deactivate accounts after being banned and they still allow phone number registration in those countries.
For Android people could download the apk file from Signal's website instead of getting it from the Play Store at least.
https://signal.org/android/apk/
While we don't know with certainty what they will do in each situation the past may be an indicator of what they will do to a large extent. But Signal has never pulled out of a country voluntarily before as far as I know so it is uncharted territory.
I think the intentional deactivation of current accounts is unlikely to happen in this case with Canada.
Possibly both. Signal will want to protect themselves legally.
Play store just checks what location you put in for Google account registration and shows the app or not. It's the same for showing region locked movies.