Signal says it won't comply with Canada's lawful access Bill C-22

Signal says it won't comply with Canada's lawful access Bill C-22

6 October 2026: Signal has told Canadian lawmakers it will not change its app to meet the demands of Bill C-22, the Lawful Access Act, and would rather stop operating in Canada or accept being throttled there. The warning came from Udbhav Tiwari, the messaging service's vice-president of strategy, as the bill sits in the Senate, according to BetaKit.

Not yet independently verified. Signal's position and the bill's contents on encryption keys and data retention come from BetaKit's report; the LEGISinfo page gives only the bill's stages and a short summary. We could not find a Signal statement of its own. We will update this when it can be confirmed, and remove this note.

Parliament's LEGISinfo record shows the bill, titled "An Act respecting lawful access", was introduced by Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree and read for the first time in the House of Commons on 12 March 2026. It passed second reading on 20 April, went through committee between 5 May and 18 June, and passed third reading on 18 June, the day it had its first reading in the Senate. It is now at second reading in the Senate. The official summary describes new investigative tools for law enforcement and changes to the Criminal Code on timely access to communications and information.

BetaKit reports that the bill would require messaging companies to retain user data, widen police powers to collect personal information and let the government reach encryption keys. Tiwari is quoted as saying: "For us, this is a serious enough issue that it would fundamentally break Signal." He also said Signal will not alter its products to comply with demands that put the privacy of people outside Canada at risk, and compared the likely outcome with its treatment in Russia, China and North Korea, where access is blocked or throttled.

BetaKit adds that Canadian civil liberties groups and the Canadian Internet Society oppose the bill, as do technology companies including Tailscale and Windscribe, which sell networking and VPN services.

For any business that runs or resells messaging, VPN or secure collaboration tools used in Canada, the Senate stage is the one to watch. The text on retention and key access is what decides whether providers would need to hold more data about Canadian users, and the Senate has not yet voted on it.

Sources

• BetaKit: Signal VP reminds lawmakers the secure messaging app won't comply with Bill C-22, 6 October 2026
• Parliament of Canada LEGISinfo: Bill C-22, Lawful Access Act, 2026, 7 October 2026