WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton still wants you to delete Facebook

WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton still defends his decision to delete Facebook but says people who don’t mind ads can continue to stay on it.

Brian Acton, co-founder of WhatsApp left the company in September 2017. (REUTERS)

WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton continues to advocate his decision of deleting Facebook. Acton on being asked about this 'Delete Facebook' said that while it's a personal choice for everyone but "If you wanna be on Facebook and you wanna gave ads thrust in front of you, go to town".

Brian Acton who is now working at the Signal Foundation, a non-profit organization he co-founded with Moxie Marlinspike in 2018, gave more clarity on his decision to delete Facebook. In an interview with Wired's Steven Levy Acton talked about what made him delete Facebook and why he decided to announce it on Twitter.

"You know at the time there was some press unfolding against Facebook. The beginnings of the Cambridge Analytica revelations and I was also had read a couple blog posts about this is what it takes to get your data out of Facebook. And I was like oh okay well maybe it's time to. I wasn't really a heavy user of Facebook anyway, so I was like okay maybe it's time I'll delete myself," Acton said.

"You know I think for everyone it's a personal choice. If you wanna be on Facebook and you wanna gave ads thrust in front of you, go to town. I mean, that's your choice," he added.

Regarding his decision to tweet about deleting Facebook Acton said that he needed a tombstone which turned out to be Twitter. But to his disappointment his tweet received which later became a movement.

"So I left my tombstone on Twitter, which to my chagrin was a lot more public and a lot more visible and a lot more visible than I was necessarily expecting," Acton said.

Acton continued to assert his position on protecting user data which was introduced on WhatsApp with end-to-end encryption. The WhatsApp co-founder left Facebook in September 2017 following Facebook's plans to monetize the messaging app. Later in March 2017, Acton tweeted 'Delete Facebook' amid the Cambridge Analytica row.

Facebook will start showing ads on WhatsApp in 2020. The company also plans to merge WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger to share on universal messaging platform.