META Meta Platforms Inc

By Jay Greene 

LAGUNA BEACH, Calif. -- WhatsApp remains committed to user privacy despite a recent move to start sharing some data with parent Facebook Inc. that alarmed some users and regulators, co-founders Jan Koum and Brian Acton said.

In August, the messaging service said it would start sharing phone numbers and other user data with Facebook, which acquired the company in 2014. The move, the first update to WhatsApp's terms of service and privacy policy in four years, allowed coordination with Facebook to analyze how people use its service and make friend suggestions.

Mr. Koum, WhatsApp's chief executive, noted that WhatsApp also uses end-to-end encryption for messages, meaning it can't see their content. And he noted that the company never hs collected personal data, such as gender of its users, so that Facebook won't get data that some users wouldn't want shared.

"We try to be really thoughtful so that users are happy about the changes," Mr. Koum said during an appearance here at The Wall Street Journal's WSJDLive 2016 global technology conference.

Mr. Acton said updating the terms of service was necessary to take advantage of some of Facebook's technology, such as its spam-detection system. WhatsApp's previous terms of service were "somewhat woefully out of date," he said.

The moves were part of WhatsApp's effort to start generating revenue by allowing businesses contact customers -- banks notifying customers of fraudulent transactions or airlines to alert travelers about delayed flights, for example.

Enabling business-to-consumer communication was a natural extension of WhatsApp's strategy, since many users already have email addresses of various companies in their address books, Mr. Acton said. "There was pent up demand. It meant we really needed to build this," Mr. Acton said.

He added that WhatsApp is "at the beginning of this," and that 2017 is the year "when will really go deep."

The executives promised that adding business communications to WhatsApp won't lead to waves of spam flowing through the service.

"We really hate spam," Mr. Koum said.

"With a passion," Mr. Acton added.

The executives noted that WhatsApp has more than 1 billion users, and Mr. Acton said he like to get to 2 billion users, though "that's going to take some time."

The pair said being owned by Facebook -- which also owns competing app Messenger -- doesn't lead to any disagreements over strategy. Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg is mostly a "cheerleader" for WhatsApp, Mr. Acton said.

"I think of Mark as a member of our board, and who wouldn't want Mark Zuckerberg as a member of our board," Mr. Acton said.

Write to Jay Greene at Jay.Greene@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 25, 2016 19:51 ET (23:51 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.