In my book a single data point (a phone number) is not "vast amounts of metadata". Again, I have never seen someone describing Signal as a “paragon of privacy and security”, Signal itself certainly does not say that (It's presented as an improvement over SMS).
It's the volumes of phone numbers collected collectively that constitute vast amounts of metadata. Meanwhile, I've seen plenty of people advocate using Signal as the best option for privacy. And any time there is a criticism of Signal then then brigades of people inexplicably appear to vigorously defend it.
What's funny is this is pretty out in the open, and ppl don't realize it. When Yasha Levine criticized signal, the president of Radio Free Asia (a US government propaganda org), sent this out, openly pushing Signal to european internet freedom communities:
Our primary interest is to make sure the extended OTF network and the Internet Freedom community are not spooked by the [Yasha Levine’s] article (no pun intended). Fortunately all the major players in the community are together in Valencia this week - and report out from there indicates they remain comfortable with OTF/RFA.
thank you for providing a concrete example of the nonsense I'm referring to. The only ones who make people less safe are the ones who blindly advocate for a platform while ignoring real and tangible problems associated with it. Signal users are a cult.