WhatsApp CEO Quits Over Disagreements with Facebook
In a latest development, Jan Koum, the CEO of one of the most popular, and now Facebook owned communication platform WhatsApp has resigned citing privacy disagreement issues with Facebook.
Koum is also said to step down from his role in Facebook as one of the board members. Koum was included as one of the board members when Facebook acquired WhatsApp in 2014 for about 19 billion dollars.
Koum also the co-founder of WhatsApp in an ironic move took Facebook to declare his resignation to public.
“It’s been almost a decade since Brian and I started WhatsApp, and it’s been an amazing journey with some of the best people. But it is time for me to move on,” he wrote on his Facebook wall.
“I’m taking some time off to do things I enjoy outside of technology, such as collecting rare air-cooled Porsches, working on my cars and playing ultimate frisbee. And I’ll still be cheering WhatsApp on – just from the outside.”
As per reports in New York Times and Wall Street Journal, this step from Koum comes in with regard to serious disagreements on privacy policy issue. Disagreement is based on Facebook’s use of personal data and its attempts to weaken the service use of encryption.
It is still unclear as to who will replace Koum as the new CEO of Whatsapp.
In a comment on Koum's Facebook post, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote: "I'm grateful for everything you've done to help connect the world, and for everything you've taught me, including about encryption and its ability to take power from centralized systems and put it back in people's hands."Zuckerberg concluded by saying: "Those values will always be at the heart of WhatsApp."
Koum and Brian Acton the founders of WhatsApp sold it Facebook on conditions to protect the users data. Acton has left the company November and post the analytica controversy has urged people to join #DeleteFacebook movement on social media.
Post its acquisition by Facebook the WhatsApp user base has nearly tripled to 1.35 billion active monthly users.
