Whatsapp Co-Founder Says It’s Time To Delete Facebook
Whatsapp Co-Founder Says It’s Time To Delete Facebook
Among the many voices calling for people to leave scandal-hitΒ Facebook, one stands out: Brian Acton, the co-founder of messaging service WhatsApp, whichΒ Facebook now owns.
Facebookβs stock price is down more than 11% since last weekendβs reports that Cambridge Analytica, a right-leaning political consultancy, acquired and misused the personal data of tens of millions of Facebook users. The social network is now facing crackdowns from regulators inΒ the U.S.Β andΒ Europe, and anΒ investor lawsuitΒ over that share price slump.
Many people have pointed out that Cambridge Analytica didnβt use Facebookβs data in an unusual way: it wanted to influence people. But even before the latest scandal hit, Facebook was caught up in a furor overΒ propagandaΒ that might have influenced the 2016 U.S. election, and growing disquiet over itsΒ deliberately addictive and arguably divisiveΒ nature.
Acton was an engineer and executive atΒ YahooΒ before he co-founded WhatsApp in 2009. Facebook bought the messaging app in 2014,Β making Acton a multi-billionaire, and he hung around there until November last year.
Now, Acton heads up the Signal Foundation. Signal is a rival of WhatsApp, albeit one that pitches itself much more to security-minded users. That said, WhatsApp has for the last few years actually used Signalβs open-source, end-to-end encryption technology, which was developed by Signal founder Moxie Marlinspike and his team at Open Whisper Systems.
Last month MarlinspikeΒ announcedΒ the creation of the Signal Foundation, a new nonprofit funded by Acton, who has put $50 million into the project as a starter. Signal was previously reliant on support from the Freedom of the Press Foundation.
Acton is not exactly a prolific Twitter userβhe tweeted twice this year and twice in 2016; apart from aΒ random βwhatsappβ tweetΒ in 2012, he doesnβt seem to have used the service much since 2010.
Facebook turned me down. It was a great opportunity to connect with some fantastic people. Looking forward to life’s next adventure.
One notable tweet, though, came in 2009. βFacebook turned me down,β Acton said in that message. βIt was a great opportunity to connect with some fantastic people. Looking forward to lifeβs next adventure.β
