WhatsApp CEO Leaves Facebook, Cites Privacy Intrusions

It was revealed yesterday that Jan Koum, WhatsApp’s CEO, co-founder and Facebook board member, will be resigning from his post due to disagreements on the app’s privacy and weakened encryption.

On Koum’s post about his resignation, Mark Zuckerberg mentioned in his comment that encryption and its ability to take power from centralized systems and put it back in people’s hands, will always be at the heart of WhatsApp. Some noted that the Facebook CEO had attempted to downplay the notion that the company had pushed Koum away when it tried to weaken WhatsApp’s encryption.

Koum was strongly opposed to in-app advertising which he sought to keep out of WhatsApp. It is said that Facebook may now expand intrusive ads into the app with Koum’s departure.

Source: TechCrunch