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WhatsApp founder, who got billions from Facebook, tells everyone to #deletefacebook

By Daniel Petrov

Updated: Mar 21, 2018, 12:16 PM

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It is time. #deletefacebook
— Brian Acton (@brianacton) 20 март 2018 г.

Back in 2014, Facebook acquired WhatsApp for the princely sum of $16 billion, raising quite a few eyebrows regarding return on that investment. Cross-platform user info mining may be one of those returns, but Europe recently banned it, and Facebook itself is in trouble as one of Trump's campaign consulting firms fetched tens of millions of user profiles from it under false pretenses.

Thus, Facebook's CEO Mark Zuckerberg went from a 2020 hopeful, to a political pariah, and saw $5 billion of its net worth wiped out in a single day, as shares in the social network plunged. There is more, as one of WhatsApp's co-founders, Brian Acton, just went out on Twitter to advise everyone who would listen that "It is time. #deletefacebook."

This hashtag has been trending in the last few days, sparking somewhat of a movement, and the backing of a WhatsApp founder isn't going to make things easier for Mr Zuckerberg, even though people are so addicted to checking their friends and relatives' stories, or posting their own opinions, that it's unclear whether there will be a mass following. The irony in the story, however, is that Mr Acton is worth $6.5 billion, most of it undoubtedly due to the princely sum that Facebook paid out to acquire his brainchild of a popular messenger.

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Daniel, a devoted tech writer at PhoneArena from 2010 to 2025, has been engrossed in mobile technology since the Windows Mobile era. His expertise spans mobile hardware, software, and carrier networks, and he's keenly interested in the future of digital health, car connectivity, and 5G. Beyond his professional pursuits, Daniel finds balance in travel, reading, and exploring new tech innovations, while contemplating the ethical and privacy implications of our digital future.