The new monetization measures, however, are controversial and come after a series of disagreements within Facebook. The creators of WhatsApp have always stated that they would not resort to selling ads. Even so, despite the huge user base, generating profits has been a challenge for the service. Since the acquisition of the messenger by Facebook in 2014, for $ 22 billion, speculation has circulated about the monetary intentions of Mark Zuckerberg’s company.
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WhatsApp is the subject of controversy after speculation about ads on the platform – Photo: Anna Kellen Bull / dnetc
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Data exchange between Facebook and WhatsApp
According to Brian Acton, co-founder of WhatsApp, in an interview with Forbes, he didn’t know at the time, but Facebook already had plans and technologies for exchanging data between platforms – a crucial point for monetizing the messaging service. The social network could use the sequence of numbers corresponding to each cell phone as a bridge between the accounts or, even, the phone number itself.
Buying the messenger on Facebook influenced the possible measures for 2019 – Photo: Carolina Ochsendorf / dnetc
A year and a half after the billionaire purchase, WhatsApp’s terms of service were changed, which allows precisely this data sharing. The action, in addition to displeasing Acton, cost US $ 122 million (about R $ 448 million, in direct conversion), a fine paid to the European Competition Commission for providing incorrect or misleading information.
With the move, the app’s founders put pressure and managed to keep it free of ads, but using the data to link services to other purposes was inevitable. After that, WhatsApp started to be used as a source for Facebook, which presents common users suggestions of friends and personalized advertising.
Conflicts lead to co-founder leaving
The crisis within the company continued. Brian Acton even suggested an alternative way to make money: charging people a micro fee after sending and receiving a certain amount of messages. However, Facebook executives rejected the idea. Finally, in November 2017, Acton decided to leave the company.
A clause in the Acton and Jan Koum contract allowed them to withdraw all their shares if Facebook implemented monetization methods in the messaging app without the co-founders’ consent. However, Acton did not mention the condition and gave up US $ 850 million (more than R $ 3 billion). According to the programmer and entrepreneur, he preferred to get out of the way and let the company do what he wanted without his participation, but he feels guilty for having «sold the privacy of its users». In March, Acton declared via Twitter that he would delete his Facebook account.
New Features and Privacy
The decision to incorporate ads into WhatsApp Status could be announced next year. Soon, companies will also be able to pay for chat tools with users through WhatsApp Business. Thus, it will be possible, for example, to automatically send boarding passes and purchase confirmations. The news also includes the possibility of medium and large businesses incorporating WhatsApp buttons on their own websites.
WhatsApp Business will be one of the services most affected by the messenger changes – Photo: Raquel Freire / dnetc
Another feature that is in the Facebook plans for the messenger is the availability of data analysis to companies. However, end-to-end encryption is an obstacle as it prevents reading the content of conversations. Acton says Zuckerberg’s company does not intend to break the app’s encryption, but the strategies are unclear. Facebook tests ways to offer companies analytical insights about WhatsApp users in an encrypted environment.
Former Facebook security director Alex Stamos defended the display of ads on WhatsApp. It claims to be a necessary mechanism for generating revenue from applications that adopt end-to-end encryption.
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