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Biography
2018: A story about the reasons for leaving Facebook
On September 26, 2018, Brian Acton, in a conversation with a Forbes journalist, spoke about the reasons for his departure from Facebook. This is the first interview with co-founder WhatsApp after dismissal. The stumbling block, he said, was the different view of Acton and Facebook management on the company's advertising policy.
Acton and second co-founder WhatsApp Ian Kum met while working at Yahoo in the 1990s, and in 2009 they launched WhatsApp together. The basis of the company's earnings was a small annual subscription to the application, but after Facebook acquired WhatsApp for $22 billion in 2014, the annual service fee was completely canceled. Many wondered how Facebook plans to earn on an application purchased for such an amount. The answer was the main business model of the company - advertising.
When it became finally clear that Facebook was going to monetize WhatsApp through constant contextual advertising, Acton tried to offer other opportunities - for example, through the message limit, but he was refused, since this would bring less income. As a result, in 2017, Acton left Facebook, leaving shares worth $850 million, and at the beginning of 2018 he invested $50 million in the development and promotion of the Signal messenger, which uses encrypted messages without advertising. A month later, after the scandal with Facebook and Cambridge Analytica, Acton wrote on a Twitter blog that it was time to remove Facebook.
Acton and Coom never wanted WhatsApp to become an advertising platform. Acton regrets the sale of the company and believes that he made a deal with his conscience, exchanging the confidentiality of his users for money. He is not alone in his conclusions - the founders of Instagram also talk about leaving Facebook, because they did not agree with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.[1]
2022: Appointment as Head of Signal
On January 10, 2022, it became known about the appointment of Brian Acton as head of the Signal Foundation, which is responsible for the development of the super-secure Signal messenger. The founder of this project, Moxie Marlinspike, resigned as CEO after several years of coordinating the development of all products and managing employees.
Marlinspike explained that his goal was for the messenger to grow to a level that could not require his participation in the further development of the project. Now it's happened. Moxie Marlinspike intends to focus on other projects. Which ones are not specified.
He also recalled that since 2014 he worked on Signal as a programmer, wrote all the server code and code for Android, gave this project a significant part of life and strength, including correcting errors at night on the sidewalk in the rain, when he sat with a laptop until he eliminated errors in the code.
The creator of Signal noted that he sees in Signal a "limitless" potential for development and would like someone "with fresh energy" and passion to realize it to the maximum. He added that, given the composition of the service team, he can calmly transfer control to a new person.
 | Now Signal is an amazing group of 30 people: a combination of wonderful engineers, supertalant designers, talented and uncomfortable support staff, as well as a very experienced and committed leadership team, "said Moxie Marlinspike. |  |
The leading world media - The Guardian, The Washington Post, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal - recommend Signal for confidential communication with their journalists. WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger also use the Signal protocol for end-to-end encryption of correspondence.[2]
Notes
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