The cofounder of WhatsApp, Jan Koum, has announced that he has left the company. Although he cites his mother as the cause, rumors have him frustrated with Facebook's handling of ads and privacy.
In a publication on Facebook, Jan Koum said:
It's been almost a decade since Brian and I started WhatsApp, and it's been an amazing journey with the best people. But it's time to move on. I was fortunate to work with an incredibly small team and see that our focus was able to produce an app that usesby so many people all over the world.
A publication by The Washington Post, which was released shortly before Koum's announcement, reports that the reason Koum is leaving is due to disagreements with Facebook. It supposedly clashed with the biggest social network, which bought WhatsApp for $19 billionmillions dollars in 2014, for privacy and data security issues of platform users.
Withdrawing from WhatsApp, he also left the board of Facebook.
If this is the real reason for Koum's departure, it is the last big blow to the credibility of the larger social network after its scandal Cambridge Analytica.
WhatsApp started sharing some of its users' personal data with Facebook in 2016, to improve ad targeting. But this contradicts the contempt that the company had shown from the beginning for the ads. The other founder of the company, Brian Acton, told Forbes in 2014 that "it does not improve one's life by making ads work better."
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg replied to Koum's publication with the following statement:
Jan: I'll get to work so closely with you. I am grateful for everything you have done to help connect the world and everything you have taught me, such as encryption and the ability to transfer power from central systems to the hands of people. These values will always be at the heart of WhatsApp.
If rumors are true, Koum is reportedly leaving because of Facebook's encryption policy, but we can not know exactly. Let's remind that Brian Acton openly supported the #DeleteFacebook movement last month.
As for what Jan Koum will do after that, the former WhatsApp CEO said:
I want some time to do things I enjoy except of technologys, like collecting rare air-cooled Porsches, working on my cars, and playing frisbee. I will continue to support WhatsApp, but externally.
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