WhatsApp Breaks Promises To Users Not To Sell Ads, Could Face FTC Investigation

WhatsApp used to be a service that guaranteed no ads will ever annoy its users on the platform. When it was bought by Facebook for close to $22 billion back in 2014, however, it was only a matter of time before the biggest social media network in the world would pressure the chat service to start contributing to the revenue. So when WhatsApp announced that it would be sharing user data with Facebook, it was a sign that the service finally buckled under pressure.

As Recode recounts, WhatsApp denounced ads back in 2012, saying that it infringed on the privacy rights of users. The platform’s CEO Jan Koum even wrote a blog post about it, detailing the reasons why his company will not sell ads. At the time, Koum believed that advertising in any form was an insult to the intelligence of its users. Clearly, he doesn’t believe this to be the case anymore, as the most recent blog post explains.

“Facebook can offer better friend suggestions and show you more relevant ads if you have an account with them,” the announcement reads. “For example, you might see an ad from a company you already work with, rather than one from someone you've never heard of.”

In response to the development, users are outraged over what they perceive is a clear violation of their privacy rights, Fortune reports. More than the wrath of their users, however, WhatsApp and Facebook might also need to tangle with Federal Trade Commission, which historically has a problem with companies committing privacy violations.

When WhatsApp was acquired by Facebook in 2014, the FTC sent the companies a letter, strongly encouraging them to keep their promise to respect the privacy of their users. The letter also came with a warning that if they did not keep their word, both companies could potentially face investigations. Now that both WhatsApp and Facebook have broken their promises, it will be interesting to see what the government agency is going to do now.