WhatsApp Founders Forfeited Around $1.3 Billion in Fight Over User Privacy Rights
“It’s time for me to move on,” said the co-founder of WhatsApp Jan Koum, leaving the company in April 2018. In November 2017 the same thing was said by Brian Acton, the second co-founder of Whatsapp, subsequently publishing a post with the tag #DeleteFacebook.
Acton forfeited $900 million in potential stock rewards during his departure with Facebook and Koum left behind 2 million unvested Facebook shares worth $400 million.
Had Koum and Acton stayed at the company until November, they would've received all of those shares upon the completion of their contracts, totalling about $1.3 billion.
Reason behind WhatsApp co-founders’ departure
By installing any mobile application, have you ever read the privacy agreement to the end?
If you ever find the time to read it, you will realize the privacy agreement features many convenient loopholes that allow the company to use your personal data. In the end, your data is sold and used by companies in search for monetary benefits.
Koum and Acton were strongly against these policies, so when Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg pushed for WhatsApp to adopt policies that went against their core values, they ultimately left the company.
WhatsApp’s attempt to protect user privacy
Facebook bought WhatsApp in 2014 for 19 billion dollars, making this history’s most expensive acquisition of an Internet company.
Initially, founders Acton and Koum agreed contractually that Whatsapp would not monetize its platform. But the situation changed dramatically in 2016 when the number of users on the messaging platform exceeded 1 billion. For a brief period, WhatsApp charged a 99 cent annual subscription fee to users, as per Zuckerberg’s request. Even though this only applied to some countries and was not so heavily enforced, it just showed Facebook’s attempt to profit from every project — including WhatsApp. However, the annual usage fee of 99 cents was canceled abruptly in January 2016.
In 2016 it was announced that WhatsApp will share users’ phone numbers with Facebook which, according to The Wall Street Journal, conflicts with WhatsApp core principles. Zuckerberg and Sandberg wanted Koum and Acton to agree to other indulgences in terms of user data. Specifically, they wanted Whatsapp to share user data with third-party companies.
Brian Acton decided to quit after Facebook management began discussing the introduction of advertising in the “status” field in WhatsApp. Of course, many linked off this with the scandal of Cambridge Analytica, but more likely, Acton was tired of fighting for the right thing, fighting for user data confidentiality.
“We will never sell your information to anyone again. We are responsible for keeping the personal data intact and safe, and we impose strict restrictions on how our partners can use and disclose this information.”commented a Facebook spokesman following a sensational scandal with Cambridge Analytica.
What awaits us after the departure of WhatsApp’s founders? Perhaps banner advertising on the status bar? Perhaps businesses will be able to send direct messages to users? Either way, the future of WhatsApp will inevitably change, and our data may no longer belong to us.
User data privacy is a basic human right
The need to ensure security over personal data is a real concern. Information about a person has always been of great value, but today it has become the most expensive commodity. Information in the hands of a fraudster turns into a crime tool, in the hands of a dismissed employee could mean revenge, in the hands of an insider could mean sales theft. For these reasons, personal data needs serious protection. Technology has reached a critical point where individuals can no longer protect their own information from large centralized businesses that will very easily sell user data for a quick buck. Furthermore, we are living in a world where we rely on technology and electronic devices that collect our data everyday. With more technological advancements and e-commerce tools accessible to the masses, opportunity for the misuse of accumulated data will increase. For these reasons and more, proper security of personal data and protection of our basic human rights is of utmost importance.
iTrue’s Vision
Imagine an ideal world where our phone numbers and mailing addresses are securely protected, where there is no spam and only we decide how to use our personal information.
When it comes to WhatsApp and Facebook’s debate over user privacy, we agree with WhatsApp that user data should be confidential. However, instead of battling with a company over values, we want to create a decentralized platform that protects user data as its core function — no board of director or executive member can tell us how to protect or utilize confidential data.
iTrue believe that every person has the right to choose which companies can access our data and which company we can trust. iTrue is using combining blockchain technology with biometrics to create a next-gen solution for privacy control, giving power over data protection back to the users.
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