Facebook's plan to avoid getting split up might be too little and too late

by Alan Friedman / Aug 03, 2019, 12:44 PM

Facebook's plan to avoid getting split up might be too little and too late

More than seven years have elapsed since Facebook bought Instagram for $1 billion. At the time, Instagram was known for its photo filters and was just reaping the rewards of dropping its Android version of the app. In hindsight, that was a spectacular deal for Facebook as Instagram now has over 1 billion monthly active users and some estimate that it takes in $2 billion a month in advertising recenue.

In October 2014, Facebook closed on its purchase of messaging app WhatsApp. The final price was over $21 billion. At the time of purchase, the messaging app was free to users for a year and $1 a year thereafter, although that charge was removed in 2016. Annual revenue, estimated by Forbes, is $5 billion and the app will start running ads next year on its own version of Stories called "Status." WhatsApp has more than 1.5 billion daily active users.

Because Facebook didn't go around and promote its ownership of Instagram and WhatsApp, it is quite possible that the vast majority of the smartphone wielding public doesn't even know that all three are owned by the same company. But that apparently is going to change. The Information (via TechCrunch) cites three unnamed sources who revealed that Facebook's properties are going to have new branding. The two apps will be known as "Instagram from Facebook” and “WhatsApp from Facebook." The report notes that employees have already been informed about this surprising move that comes as a shock since the two have been running autonomously since their acquisitions.

Facebook is no longer bashful about its ownership of Instagram and WhatsApp

So why would Facebook do this now? After all, Instagram and WhatsApp both have achieved strong growth without having the Facebook name included with their branding. There is an answer. Reportedly, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is upset that the company doesn't get enough credit for the two apps' success. But another reason might have to do with the FTC's investigation into Facebook and the calls from some presidential candidates to split up the company into separate units. By adding the "...from Facebook" line, it could appear to FTC staffers that those using Instagram and WhatsApp realize that they belong to one big happy Facebook family. Before adding the new branding, the FTC could have pointed out that most Instagram and WhatsApp users didn't know who owned the apps and therefore breaking up Facebook wouldn't matter to them.

It is doubtful though that such a strategy will stop those calling for Facebook to be split up. With great power comes great responsibility and that is something that Facebook has yet to prove it can handle.

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11 Comments

1. AbhiD

Posts: 857; Member since: Apr 06, 2012

Time to ditch Whatsapp and switch to another messenger has arrived! Even though Whatsapp was owned by FB all this while, now they are going over the board with Ads and forced branding, signalling that Whatsapp won't be running independent anymore(assuming a % of it was running till date). Already done with FB and Insta.

posted on Aug 03, 2019, 2:41 PM 6

2. cmdacos

Posts: 4333; Member since: Nov 01, 2016

Byyyyyyeeee

posted on Aug 03, 2019, 3:10 PM 5

7. AbhiD

Who are you?

posted on Aug 04, 2019, 1:40 AM 0

10. Tsepz_GP

Posts: 1177; Member since: Apr 12, 2012

Lol, this is hilarious. They already had your data and Facebook has long had a great hand in WhatsApp since purchasing, even though they appeared to run autonomously, that really isn’t the case in the background.

posted on Aug 04, 2019, 6:36 AM 0

3. Derekjeter

Posts: 1557; Member since: Oct 27, 2011

Zombies don’t care. Facebook and that scum bag MZ are the dirtiest company alive. They violate so many privacy laws everyday and people still don’t care. That asshole has made fun of Facebook users so many times and yet people still use their apps. Morons.

posted on Aug 03, 2019, 3:42 PM 6

4. L0n3n1nja

Posts: 1588; Member since: Jul 12, 2016

Meh, not much different than Google, or Verizon, or my government. I've quit using Facebook in the past, just inconveniences me and makes it harder to keep in touch with others.

posted on Aug 03, 2019, 5:32 PM 0

5. oldskool50 unregistered

If anyone actually cared a bit privacy, they wouldn't be o line, especially on FB. How private is anything on FB, when a profile can. E seen by millions. Come one dude....common sense says privacy and FaceBook have zero correlation. It's like trying to say waterproof and water resistant are the same thing.

posted on Aug 03, 2019, 9:40 PM 2

8. Mikele

Posts: 187; Member since: Nov 19, 2013

Meh you have the power to control who sees your profile online with FB, Instagram and WhatsApp

posted on Aug 04, 2019, 3:06 AM 1

13. JCASS889

Posts: 619; Member since: May 18, 2018

That's doesn't matter if it's private, all your data is still on Facebook servers and they have been known to sell that data.

posted on Aug 04, 2019, 12:53 PM 0

11. Atrixboyyy

Posts: 619; Member since: Nov 03, 2011

"Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is upset that the company doesn't get enough credit for the two apps' success" that's because they had nothing to do with either apps success stories, I mean WA did cost 21b...