I do not think the name WhatsApp needs any introduction, maybe there are only a few people who haven't heard about the social messenger app with over 1 billion users. As at the time when messaging was very expensive came the baby messager app "WhatsApp. You know, 2009 is a very big year for so many things such as cryptocurrency and it is a big year for WhatsApp as it was launched that year. Brian Acton and Yan Koum created Whatsapp for people to be able to update their status.
From the beginning, this product was completely free and instant when messages were sent. If a free application would survive and be financially profitable, then it must either sell ads, sell data, or in-app purchases. In other to keep their business afloat so as to pay for basics, WhatsApp started to charge $1 yearly (somewhat like a donation).
As usual with tech startup companies even when they are not profitable, they get investment from seed investors. Soon, companies like Sequoia Capital invested in WhatsApp and its users increased as people started using the app.
In 2014, Facebook bought WhatsApp for $19B in cash and shares and this caused a lot of questioning as Facebook has been known to sell users' data as well as as give targeted ads. It has not been smooth for Facebook since its beginning as people question the app's privacy, security, and data usage.
Soon, the WhatsApp owners decided to leave the company as Facebook started to use WhatsApp to get data of users so as to target them on Facebook. WhatsApp was what was needed for Facebook to become stronger and larger at targeting users with adverts.
I have written a lot of presumed thoughts on WhatApp, so, do you think Facebook isn't sharing WhatsApp data for targeted advertisements, or that the price for a free product is the customer