Not so long ago Facebook announced that it is going to acquire WhatsApp for a staggering $19 billion. Since then there has been a lot of debate over the price and this acquisition in general. Privacy groups are concerned about what this means for users’ data. Today WhatsApp CEO Jan Koum took to the company’s official blog to “set the record straight.” Koum reiterates that even after its “partnership” with Facebook, WhatsApp will continue to users data and privacy just as before.
Koum writes that WhatsApp was built around the aim of knowing as little as possible about the users, “respect for your privacy is coded into our DNA,” he adds. Users aren’t required to provide the service with their names, email addresses, date of birth or addresses. WhatsApp has no plans to change that.
Reiterating that the company’s values and beliefs will not change, Koum writes that if partnering with Facebook meant that they would have had to change, WhatsApp “wouldn’t have done it.” He says that the service will continue to operate autonomously and independently. Koum calls speculation about WhatsApp changing its principles and policies “baseless and unfounded.”
This isn’t the first time that Koum has gone on record to state that WhatsApp users’ privacy and data is not going to be compromised after its acquisition by Facebook. The social network itself has promised that WhatsApp will continue to function as an autonomous messaging service.