Facebook Backs off from Selling Ads on WhatsApp

Facebook has decided not to sell ads on its messaging platform, WhatsApp. It was over this issue of selling ads that forced Brian Acton and Jan Koum, the founder of the mobile messaging service to quit nearly two years ago. 

The intention of Facebook has become public, as WhatsApp has recently disbanded the team that had been formed to find the best ways to integrate ads into its service. Though there is no official statement from Facebook.

In 2017, WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton has left the company and in August last year CEO Jan Koum has broke ties with Facebook over their differences with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who wanted to monetize on WhatsApp by introducing ads between chats.

As, both the founders Acton and Koum never wanted WhatsApp to become a platform full of ads. In an interview, Acton has explained that the disagreement on monetizing WhatsApp was the main reason he quit Facebook and gave up $850 million on the table.

Acton then said, “At the end of the day, I sold my company. I sold my users’ privacy. I made a choice and a compromise. I live with that every day”.

He also alleged that Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg was in a hurry to make money from the messaging service and undermine the elements of its encryption technology.

In the year 2016, Koum and Acton had changed the terms of service on WhatsApp to explicitly forbid displaying ads in the app, complicating any future efforts to do so. 

Started in the year 2009, WhatsApp initially made money from the download fees and then an annual subscription of $0.99 is charged from the users, but Facebook after acquiring made the platform free. Facebook bought WhatsApp for $22 billion in the year 2014. In 2018 Facebook unveiled several plans to generate more revenue from the app that included selling ads.

Last year in the month of Facebook also unveiled several prototypes for generating ads in its Status feature, which allows ephemeral postings similar to the Instagram Stories. The company plans also planned to introduce ads to Status. 

But now the focus seems to have shifted on building out moneymaking features allowing businesses to communicate with customers and better manage their interactions.

Along with the core Facebook platform, Instagram and Messenger, WhatsApp is among the popular services of Facebook, that attract a collective 2.8 billion monthly users. 

Mark Zuckerberg also became one of the richest people in the world only by selling opportunities to advertise to those who came to the social network to connect with friends and family. Advertising accounts for 98% of Facebook’s revenue in its third quarter.