WhatsApp is a Facebook-owned company that the social media giant bought in 2014 for $16 billion from its co-founders Jan Koum and Brian Acton.
The WhatsApp app logo, WhatsApp
One notable thing about its co-founders is that while Jan Koum continues to lead the company, Brian Acton left the company earlier this year to start his own non-profit foundation.
According to The Verge, Brian Acton has taken to his Twitter account and is urging his followers that it's high time that they deleted their Facebook account.
The current data leak controversy where Cambridge Analytica misused user data taken from Facebook via a third party which was supposed to use this data for research purposes, has definitely taken a toll on Facebook both in financial as well as legal terms. A number of online movements encouraging Facebook users to delete their profiles on the social media platform have emerged with the #deletefacebook hashtag picking up steam over the last couple of days. WhatsApp co-founder is the latest voice to be in support of this hashtag.
It is time. #deletefacebook
— Brian Acton (@brianacton) March 20, 2018
The report went on to add that WhatsApp declined to comment on the statement while Acton “did not immediately respond to a request for comment.” It is unclear if Acton feels the same way about WhatsApp because that technically comes under Facebook. Acton had recently invested about $50 million in privacy-focused Singal app, often regarded as an alternative to WhatsApp.
As the years have progressed, WhatsApp has increasingly grown its interdependence on Facebook infrastructure with a plan for deeper integration about sharing data with the parent company. The data sharing has raised eyebrows in past with agencies focusing on privacy and even governments investigating the policy.
Brian Acton, co-founder of WhatsApp, speaks at the WSJD Live conference. Image: Reuters
As pointed out by the report, Acton is not the first ‘former Facebook executive’ to express concern, displeasure or discomfort about the company after leaving the place.
As reported previously, Chamath Palihapitiya, former vice president of User Growth added that the company has made such tools that are destroying the society.
What is concerning here is the fact that figures that were high up in the command chain at Facebook, seem to be aware of the implications of the social media giant and what its effects on the society are. They are often unforgiving in their criticism after leaving the company.
This indicates there are things that need fixing inside Facebook and it needs to change things significantly.
Published Date: Mar 21, 2018 07:43 AM | Updated Date: Mar 21, 2018 08:21 AM
