Facebook is using Messenger and WhatsApp to spot sketchy accounts and fake news

as informed in Handily for Facebook, it's also a roundabout way of fighting back against the spread of fake news that's proliferated on the platform. So, it's like anything — and people and pages have adapted, using Facebook's standalone apps like Messenger and WhatsApp to spread that content directly to other users. And Facebook even taking out ads in Indian newspapers in recent days to warn people about misuse of such platforms. The feature — which Facebook has acknowledged it's playing with at the moment as part a "small test" — isn't specifically about going after Russian actors. Oh, and Brazil is also home to 120 million users of WhatsApp in a country of 200 million people.

Facebook Will 'Figure Out' Ads on WhatsApp but Is Focusing on Business Tools for Now – Adweek

Those products include the free WhatsApp Business app for Android devices that came out in January and gives businesses more tools and functionality than personal accounts. WhatsApp Business users can make profiles for their companies, set up automatic replies to frequently asked questions and access some metrics about their communications with consumers. As of July 9, the WhatsApp Business app had more than 3 million users, a WhatsApp spokesperson said. For one thing, WhatsApp has said it's testing enterprise business tools for big companies like airlines and banks that want to communicate with consumers on the messaging service. Neither the WhatsApp Business tools nor the enterprise tools include the ability for businesses to target WhatsApp users, a WhatsApp spokesperson said.

The Real Reason Why Facebook Is Desperate for WhatsApp to "Move Faster" on Monetization -- The Motley Fool

according to Earlier this month, The Wall Street Journal published a bombshell report that extensively detailed the falling out between Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) and WhatsApp. There are a few specific details in the report that are worth dissecting a bit further. Under the simpler process, an impairment could be caused by other assets within the reporting unit (WhatsApp). In other words, determining whether Facebook needs to eat a goodwill impairment is about to get easier. Building businesses takes time, and the longer it takes, the greater the potential risk that Facebook will need to recognize an impairment charge.

Facebook should be forced to shut down WhatsApp and fix it

Defects in the design of Facebook's WhatsApp platform may have led to as many as two dozen people losing their lives in India. Casinos use this technique to keep us pouring money into slot machines; Facebook and WhatsApp use it to keep us checking news feeds and messages. It was bad enough that, after its acquisition by Facebook, WhatsApp began providing the parent company with all kinds of information about its users so that Facebook could track and target them. But in order to make WhatsApp as addictive as Facebook's social-media platform, Facebook added chat and news features to it — something it was not designed to accommodate. Only by facing penalties and being forced to do a product recall will Facebook be motivated to correct WhatsApp's defects.