The billionaire chief executive of WhatsApp, Jan Koum, is planning to leave the company after clashing with its parent, Facebook, over the popular messaging service's strategy and Facebook's attempts to use its personal data and weaken its encryption, according to people familiar with internal discussions.
The Washington Post reports that Koum, who sold WhatsApp to Facebook for more than US$19 billion in 2014, also plans to step down from Facebook's board of directors, according to these people. The date of his departure isn't known. He has been informing senior executives at Facebook and WhatsApp of his decision, and in recent months has been showing up less frequently to WhatsApp's offices on Facebook's campus in Silicon Valley.
The independence and protection of its users' data is a core tenet of WhatsApp that Koum and his co‑founder, Brian Acton, promised to preserve when they sold their tiny startup to Facebook. It doubled down on its pledge by adding encryption in 2016. The data clash took on additional significance in the wake of revelations in March that Facebook had allowed third parties to mishandle its users' personal information.
Facebook, though, needs to prove that its investment in WhatsApp ‑ its largest acquisition ever ‑ was worth it. Facebook declined immediate requests for comment.
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