WhatsApp is a messaging app that was founded in 2009 by Jan Koum and Brian Acton, two former employees of Yahoo!. The app quickly gained popularity due to its user-friendly interface and the fact that it allowed users to send text messages and multimedia content without incurring SMS charges.
In February 2014, Facebook acquired WhatsApp for $19 billion, marking one of the largest technology acquisitions in history. Following the acquisition, Koum and Acton continued to lead the company and focused on expanding WhatsApp's user base.
Over the years, WhatsApp has added several new features, including voice and video calling, end-to-end encryption, and the ability to share documents and live location. It has also launched several standalone apps, such as WhatsApp Business and WhatsApp Web, to cater to different user needs.
In January 2021, WhatsApp updated its privacy policy, which sparked controversy and led to a surge in users switching to alternative messaging apps. The policy update allowed WhatsApp to share some user data with Facebook for advertising purposes, although personal messages and calls remained encrypted.
Despite this controversy, WhatsApp remains one of the most popular messaging apps in the world, with over 2 billion monthly active users as of February 2021.
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