It’s been less than a week since WhatsApp announced it would start sharing some user data with parent company Facebook, but in that short time, app users and privacy advocates alike have raised a ruckus over what they see as a broken promise. Now, some consumer privacy watchdog groups have filed a formal complaint with the FTC, asking them to look into it. [More]
Facebook Now Using Your WhatsApp Data For Advertising
By 8.25.16
Back in 2014, Facebook acquired messaging service WhatsApp in a headline-grabbing $16 billion deal. WhatsApp, though, had been built around respecting users’ privacy, while Facebook is, well, the exact opposite of that. [More]
WhatsApp Launches Desktop App For Mac OS, Windows Users
By 5.11.16
WhatsApp’s billion or so users now have another way to call and text their friends, with a new desktop app the company launched this week for Windows and Mac. [More]
Facebook’s WhatsApp Messaging Service Bolsters Encryption Amid Law Enforcement Scrutiny
By 4.5.16
Even though the FBI has figured out a work-around that — for now — allows the agency to bypass an iPhone’s encryption, the debate still continues about which is more important: privacy for all consumers, or ready-but-limited access for law enforcement? Today, Facebook-owned messaging service WhatsApp made it clear which side of that argument it comes down on. [More]
Facebook’s WhatsApp May Be Next In Law Enforcement’s Privacy Battle
By 3.14.16
The federal government’s courtroom war with Apple over iPhone encryption may be grabbing all the headlines, but a number of tech companies offer devices, apps, and messaging services with privacy settings that frustrate police investigations. And according to a new report, the Facebook-owned WhatsApp instant messaging app could be the next to face a legal challenge from the feds. [More]
WhatsApp Ending Support For Some Older Devices By End Of 2016
By 2.29.16
If you own an older Nokia or Blackberry smartphone and are an avid user of WhatsApp, you might want to think about your phone’s future: the messaging service plans to end support for several operating systems by the end of the year. [More]
Facebook Gets Rid Of Silly Subscription Fee For WhatsApp
By 1.18.16
Most popular messaging services are free to use. Even Facebook-owned WhatsApp is free for the first year you use it, with the hope that you’ll stick around and pay a $1/year subscription fee from then on. But today the company realized that this is a silly idea and it’s time to figure out another way to make money. [More]
Facebook-Owned WhatsApp Crosses 900 Million User Mark
By 9.4.15
Facebook is having a good run this summer of taking over the world one app at a time. Hot on the heels of last week’s announcement that the big blue network now has more than 1 billion daily users, the company is now crowing about a user milestone they’ve reached on one of their two big messaging platforms, WhatsApp. [More]
You No Longer Need A Facebook Account To Use Facebook Messenger
By 6.24.15
Because we all needed another avenue to converse with friends and acquaintances other than actual face-to-face conversations, Facebook has opened its Messenger to people without an account on the social media network. [More]
Facebook Might Let Businesses Contact Customers Through WhatsApp
By 5.18.15
When Facebook forked over $19 billion to buy WhatsApp last year, it wasn’t clear how the company planned to make money off the messaging service, considering it already had its own separate app. One possibility? Facebook is considering allowing businesses to contact users — for a price, of course. [More]
Secure Messaging Scorecard Shows Just How Unprotected Your Online Chats Are
By 11.5.14
The Internet is a place where hundreds of millions of people go to write things they wouldn’t — or can’t — say in public, and many of the most private and secretive communications occur via the many instant messaging services available to consumers. But what you may not realize when sharing your personal thoughts (and images) with someone online is that the level of privacy and security on these services varies wildly from one to the next. [More]
Feds Remind Facebook & WhatsApp To Respect User Privacy After They Get Married
By 4.10.14
The Federal Trade Commission is giving a bit of pre-marriage advice to Facebook and one of its many betrothed, messaging app WhatsApp, which said “I do” to Facebook’s $19 billion (with a “b”) proposal back in February. Given Facebook’s past transgressions, the FTC felt that maybe it was worth reminding the giddy-in-love couple that there are laws about what they can and can’t do with users’ data. [More]
WhatsApp Founder: Just Because Facebook Bought Us Doesn’t Mean We’re Selling Users Out
By 3.17.14
Amidst concern from users and industry trade groups over private information changing hands between WhatsApp and its new overlords at Facebook, the wireless messaging service’s CEO and founder is attempting to assuage fears in a new blog post promising that the company won’t sell users out. [More]
Facebook, WhatsApp Acquisition Face Privacy Hurdle After EPIC Files FTC Complaint
By 3.7.14
Mergers and acquisitions routinely face opposition and complaints. Facebook’s $19 billion deal to buy messaging system WhatsApp has been able to stay rather unopposed, until now. [More]
How Do Messaging Apps That Aren’t WhatsApp Make Any Money?
By 3.3.14
WhatsApp, the messaging program that the world loves and Facebook’s newest acquisition, makes money in a very simple way: you have to pay a small amount of money per year to use it. For that, you get no ads. There are other messaging apps in the world, though, and in some regions those programs are even more popular than WhatsApp. How do they earn money? [More]
More Money, More Women And More Countries Featured In 2014 Forbes Billionaires List
By 3.3.14
The world’s wealthiest individuals are taking over from the looks of the 2014 Forbes Billionaire List. This year’s list has more billionaires, more women and reaches more areas in the world than ever before. [More]
WhatsApp Adding Voice Communications In First Big Move Since Facebook Buyout
By 2.24.14
Oh, hello there, traditional telecommunications company relying a lot on voice and SMS services for revenue, is that a new little thorn in your side, courtesy of WhatsApp? The app already offered free text messages for a year (and only $1 per year after that) via a Wi-Fi or mobile network connection, and now in a move that could serve to take a bigger slice of the pie, it says it’ll start offering voice calls this spring. [More]
27 Major Companies That Are Worth Less Than WhatsApp
By 2.20.14
Just how big of a deal is the $19 billion WhatsApp is getting from Facebook in the acquisition announced yesterday? It’s a pretty freaking big deal — especially when you consider that there are a whole lot of major companies –including many that produce physical goods you can reach out and touch — that have been around longer than WhatsApp and are worth a lot less. [More]
