Whatsapp showed absolutely no signs of morphing into a social app – Breaking News & Latest Updates 2026
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FTC v. Meta: the antitrust battle over Instagram and WhatsApp

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Lauren Feiner
WhatsApp showed ‘absolutely no signs of morphing’ into a social app.

Even though Facebook closely tracked WhatsApp’s growth in 2012 and 2013 alongside other mobile messaging apps — some of which were adding social features — Olivan says they were not concerned about WhatsApp trying to become a social network. The app only aimed to be a replacement for SMS messaging in countries where telcos charged high rates for the service, Olivan testifies. Still, several documents show Facebook executives tracking WhatsApp’s growth with concern about how it stacked up to Facebook Messenger’s.

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