WhatsApp is a cross-platform messaging and voice-over-IP application owned by 📝Meta Platforms, providing end-to-end encrypted text, voice, and video communication to more than two billion users worldwide.
Founded in 2009 by Jan Koum and Brian Acton, both former Yahoo engineers, WhatsApp built its early reputation on a deliberately ad-free, subscription-based model and a minimalist UX tuned for low-bandwidth mobile networks. Its 2014 acquisition by 📝Facebook for approximately nineteen billion dollars remains one of the largest technology deals in history and a frequent reference point in antitrust cases against Meta.
End-to-end encryption — implemented on top of the Signal Protocol since 2016 — covers message contents by default, though metadata about who messages whom, when, and how often is retained and accessible to Meta. The app supports text, voice, and video calls, ephemeral Status updates, business messaging, and Communities for group coordination, positioning it as Meta's primary global messenger alongside Messenger.
WhatsApp's privacy posture has been a recurring flashpoint: a 2021 policy update clarifying data sharing with Meta triggered mass user migration to Signal and Telegram, and ongoing reporting continues to question how meaningfully end-to-end encryption protects users when the surrounding metadata layer remains visible to the parent company.