WhatsApp, the messenger application that Facebook acquired for $19 billion 6 years ago, is incredibly popular. Just how popular?
As of the last count, 2 years ago, the number of its users stood at a staggering 1.5 billion people every month.
Now, according to its most recent disclosures, that number has grown to a whopping 2 billion people.
For scale, that is about a quarter of the number of people currently inhabiting the Earth. Only one other Facebook app/service has more numbers: Facebook’s main app which pretty much made social networking as we know it, mainstream.
Even as it has been accused by many watchers for dropping the guard on user privacy as it looks to monetize, WhatsApp has used the occasion to announce this milestone to drum up its commitment to user privacy by touting some of the features it has released in the last few years like end-to-end encryption alongside a promise to not compromise in the future.
“Strong encryption is a necessity in modern life. We will not compromise on security because that would make people less safe.”
“Messages are only kept on your phone, and no one in between can read your messages or listen to your calls, not even us. Your private conversations stay between you,” the blog post added.
Comments 2