Maybe your assumption that something dubious is going on can be eliminated by Occam's razor? Because: any business that gains in popularity will automatically also see higher press coverage.

If you raise Signal's profile then I think you can expect some half-informed tech journalists to start writing about it without fully understanding it.

I mean it makes sense. People are concerned about data privacy on WhatsApp so they move to signal. Then the people who have always said “signal isn’t perfectly secure” must reiterate to the masses what that have said many times before.

Alternatively - you're only because you're noticing it now because of the WhatsApp drama

Thomas Brewster has been on the encrypted messaging apps and law enforcement beat for a very long time and puts these stories out with regularity

WhatsApp is even worse, let us not even go there. If anything, I would go with Briar.