WhatsApp CEO Reassures Users Facebook Won’t Use Private Data In Ads
WhatsApp CEO Jay Koum is speaking out about what he deems as inaccurate information about the company’s user data policies and how they would change now that Facebook purchased it for $19 billion.
Koum used the company blog in giving users some peace of mind regarding their privacy. In it, he said the company would not collect any extra user data that would feel the huge advertising business Facebook has.
He said no one has to share their name or give their email. They won’t know what the likes are, what users are searching for on the ‘Net or collect GPS locations. WhatsApp, he said has never collected or stored the information and has no plans in changing to do so.
Koum said the company would have not agreed to a Facebook buyout if the social media company would call into question its values, despite the fact they are on two total ends of the spectrum.
Facebook is one of the biggest Internet companies that leverage user information – many times without their knowledge – so that relevant ads are targeted at them. These are ads that companies pay money for. WhatsApp is well-knonw for being against using advertising to bring in revenue. Koum even published a policy in 2012 about being against advertising. He said it was an insult to everybody’s intelligence.
Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook CEO, had already said Facebook does not plan on putting ads on WhatsApp. Koum’s statement was just a reiteration of Zuckerberg’s announcement. He said the joining of Facebook will not concede WhatsApp’s vision that made it such a success.
WhatsApp sells yearly $0.99 subscriptions to users in order to make money. According to Zuckerberg, the key goal is to increase the number of monthly users from 450 million to 1 billion. It doesn’t just want to focus on profits.
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