WhatsApp invites Facebook users to delete their personal accounts

As a guest speaker on Computer Science 181, which focuses on the social impact and ethical responsibilities of tech companies, Acton, a 47-year-old former Stanford student, outlined the principles behind the founding of WhatsApp and its "disastrous" decision to sell it to Facebook in 2014.

Acton also criticized the profit models that drive today's tech giants, including Facebook and Google, as well as the "Silicon Valley" ecosystem in which entrepreneurs are under pressure to chase venture capital to please employees and shareholders.

As for the decision to sell, he justified it by saying, “I had 50 employees, and I had to think about them and the money they would get from this sale. I had to think of our investors and I had to think of my minority stake. I didn't have the full leverage to say no if I wanted to."

Despite selling WhatsApp in a deal that made him a billionaire, Acton's negative feelings about Facebook are no secret.

He left the company in November 2017 after more than 3 years at the company in the wake of tensions surrounding the introduction of ads on the messaging platform, which he and fellow co-founder Jan Kum, who later left the company, strongly opposed.

In March 2018, and the data scandal between Facebook and political consultancy Cambridge Analytica, Acton joined advocates of deleting the Facebook app, posting a tweet confirming his position.

Although Acton did not discuss the details of Zuckerberg's drive to monetize WhatsApp while speaking at Stanford, he did talk about business models that incentivize companies to prioritize profits over people's privacy.

"The capital gain drive, or the response to Wall Street, is what's driving the expansion of data privacy breaches and has led to a lot of negative outcomes that we're not happy with," Acton said.

He added, “I wish there were security barriers. I wish there were ways to curb it. I don't see it clearly yet, and it scares me