WhatsApp co-founder Jan Kuom quits Facebook

WhatsApp CEO and co-founder Jan Koum will be leaving the world’s largest social media platform Facebook.

Kalum said early this week, that he had decided to quit Facebook, nearly ten years after he and co-founder Brian Acton created the popular messaging app, due to clashes with the company over user privacy and weakening of WhatsApp’s encryption, Reuters reported.

Kalum said early this week, that he quit Facebook, due to clashes with the company over user privacy and weakening of WhatsApp’s encryption.

Facebook

“It’s been almost a decade since Brian and I started WhatsApp, and it’s been an amazing journey with some of the best people. But it is time for me to move on,” the messaging service’s CEO said in a post on his Facebook page referring to co-founder Brian Acton. “Koum indicated that he was fortunate to have worked “with such an incredibly small team and see how a crazy amount of focus can produce an app used by so many people all over the world.”

For those uninitiated, the free messaging platform with more than 1 billion daily users was acquired by Facebook in 2014 for nearly $19 billion, making it the most expensive acquisition ever.

Koum’s resignation comes at a time when the embattled social media major is under the scanner over user data and privacy. According to the report quoting insider sources, Koum’s exit is unusual given the fact, he was the only founder of a company bought by Facebook, and also a director on the company's board.