Former Whatsapp Executive Neeraj Arora has expressed his “regret” over the deal between social media colossus Facebook presently known as Meta and instant messaging app Whatsapp. The deal took place in 2014.
Facebook’s acquisition of WhatsApp in 2014 was one of the biggest deals in the technology industry; than any of Meta’s counterparts like Google, Microsoft or Apple ever did.2014.
Neeraj Arora, who was responsible for negotiating the $22 billion deal between WhatsApp and Facebook, said he “regrets” that WhatsApp became part of Facebook. He added saying “he is not the only one” who feels this way.
Taking to Twitter and LinkedIn, he expressed his regrets over the deal.
“Today, WhatsApp is Facebook’s second-largest platform (even bigger than Instagram or FB Messenger). But it’s a shadow of the product we poured our hearts into and wanted to build for the world,” wrote Arora. “And I am not the only one who regrets that it became part of Facebook when it did,” he added.
The WhatsApp employees along with its founders have shown their letdown over how after its acquisition, the company switched its direction.
Neeraj Arora also highlighted; At the time of the deal, how Mark Zuckerberg-led company facebook pledged to the founders of Whatsapp Jan Koum, and Brian Acton — of supporting their vision for the instant-messaging app.
“As we began talking through the acquisition, and made our stance very clear: No mining user data, No ads (ever), No cross-platform tracking. FB and their management agreed and we thought they believed in our mission. Of course, that’s not what happened,” Arora said.
He said for Silicon Valley to evolve, people “need to talk about how perverse business models cause well-intentioned products, services, and ideas to go wrong”.
