When did Facebook buy WhatsApp?

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Facebook acquired WhatsApp on February 19, 2014, in a landmark deal valued at approximately $19 billion. This acquisition is notable not only for its size but also for the implications it had on the messaging landscape and user privacy concerns.

At the time of the acquisition, WhatsApp was already experiencing rapid growth, boasting around 450 million active users. Founded in 2009 by Jan Koum and Brian Acton, the app had established itself as a leading platform for messaging, offering a simple, ad-free experience that allowed users to communicate via text, voice, and multimedia messages over the internet. The application's popularity was fueled by its focus on user privacy and its commitment to providing a reliable service without the distractions of advertising.

Facebook, under the leadership of its CEO Mark Canada WhatsApp Number Database Zuckerberg, saw WhatsApp's potential to complement its ecosystem and further solidify its leading position in the social media space. The acquisition aimed to extend Facebook's reach into mobile messaging, a sector that was growing rapidly as more users moved from traditional SMS to internet-based communication. For Zuckerberg, WhatsApp was a key complement to Facebook's existing messaging service, Messenger, with the added value of reaching a worldwide audience.

The deal had an initial mix of responses: some people celebrated it as a strategic move that would strengthen the portfolio at Facebook, while others feared this deal for user privacy and security. What's important to WhatsApp founders is its philosophy of user privacy-the lack of advertisements and protection of user data-which some fear might be compromised after the takeover by Facebook.



To these apprehensions, Koum and Acton have soothed users by assuring them that their commitment to privacy would not be compromised. In 2016, WhatsApp introduced end-to-end encryption, meaning that only the sender and receiver could read the messages, thus making the platform use much safer for the users. This was viewed by many as an attempt to continue commanding trust among its users despite the Facebook company looming in the background.

Long after the acquisition, WhatsApp grew to more than 2 billion users in 2020. WhatsApp has become a lifeline for people worldwide and a crucial mode of communication, especially in parts where it was expensive to send a conventional message or when service was poor. Facebook's acquisition of WhatsApp revolutionized the face of messaging and subsequently developed into other feature development and integration with other services provided by Facebook.

The WhatsApp deal sealed by Facebook in 2014 marked an important milestone for the tech world, reflecting increased interest in mobile communication. This deal brought into view two important questions about privacy and user trust in the digital age.