WhatsApp’s initial dream of safe, encrypted, ad-free private messaging is far from intact…

In 2009, WhatsApp’s creators Brian Acton and Jan Koum shared a passion for creating a free, global instant messaging app without the nuances that plague its current, Meta-owned definition of ‘encryption’. 

Needless to say that Acton & Koum have started their own ventures since WhatsApp’s takeover. So what changed? What’s keeping users on the app in spite of its public misgivings, and what might the future hold for the platform? Learn the illuminating history behind WhatsApp on this episode of Disconnected.

This episode of Disconnected covers:

• The moral compass that guided WhatsApp’s original owners
• How the monetisation model evolved with Facebook’s takeover of WhatsApp
• The power of ‘network effect’, and why it keeps us on the platform
• What Facebook/Meta have planned for the future of the app

Links and references at: https://disconnectedpodcast.com/

Jag Sharma:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jagsharma
https://www.instagram.com/jagsharma/

Jen Campbell:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-m-campbell/

Jason Kapadia:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonkapadia/
https://www.instagram.com/jasonkapadia/

Felina Tan:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/felinagabrielletan/