WhatsApp founder Brian Acton wrestles with Facebook's Zuckerberg

One of the co-founders of the WhatsApp messaging service said it has sold the privacy of its users to Facebook and expressed frustration with the ongoing efforts of the tech giant to withdraw more money from the app .

Brian Acton, who co-founded the company with Jan Koum in 2009, spoke for the first time of his unease over Facebook's intentions regarding WhatsApp following its sale for $ 16 billion (12 billion pounds) in 2014.

"In the end, I sold my business," said Acton to Forbes magazine. "I have sold the privacy of my users to a greater advantage.I have made a choice and a compromise.And I live with that every day."

Acton announced his resignation from Facebook last September but had not yet discussed the reasons for his departure.

Until the new Forbes magazine interview, Acton's only comment on its release was a tweet sent in March to advise subscribers to delete their Facebook accounts.

However, Acton now says he chose to leave Facebook because of increasing pressure to make more money from users of the service.

Acton recalled meetings with leading Facebook officials, including Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive and chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg, where WhatsApp was encouraged to run advertisements to users and publish commercial tools for the service.

"It was like you wanted to do those things that I do not want to do, it's better if I go out of your way, and I did it," said Acton to Forbes magazine.

Acton has resigned from Facebook, he said, due to the growing interference of the company in WhatsApp. He was expecting to receive a full stock of Facebook because of an agreement with the company that would have seen him grant shares at the earliest if Facebook was implementing an overly aggressive monetization.

Zuckerberg did not agree with Acton's request and Facebook actions were not provided to Acton upon his departure. Acton did not choose to launch a lawsuit to settle the dispute. Instead, he told Forbes magazine "At the end of the day, I sold my business. I am sold out.

The other co-founder of WhatsApp, Koum, announced in April that he would leave Facebook, while reports of similar clashes with Facebook's management were reported.

In a statement from the time, Koum said that it "would take a little time to do things that I appreciate apart from technology, such as collecting rare air-cooled Porsches" , work on my cars and the ultimate frisbee ".

The departure of the two founders of WhatsApp from Facebook has been followed recently by the announcement that the two co-founders of the Instagram photo sharing application would also leave the company.

Facebook bought Instagram for $ 1 billion in 2012, and the two founders of the company have managed the business within Facebook for years. However, earlier this week, founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger announced that they would both leave Facebook.

Systrom said in a statement that he wanted to launch a new project. "We plan to take some time to re-explore our curiosity and creativity.Building new things requires us to take a step back, to understand what inspires us and to what the world needs. .

– Telegraph