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Re:Germany bans Facebook from handling WhatsApp data over pr... by eqvinox on Tuesday May 11, 2021 @09:44PM (#27125753)
Well, there's no other visible revenue source currently, but (a) we don't know what the ad/user data revenue looks like down to the finer details¹, and (b) theoretically they could have planned to turn it into a subscription service (pretty unlikely, but who knows…)

¹ some information could be gleaned from public filings, but the more interesting question is the relationship between amount of data extracted and revenue gained; any public filings only show the status quo.

Re:Germany bans Facebook from handling WhatsApp data over pr... by culturestate on Tuesday May 11, 2021 @10:14PM (#27125902)
> theoretically they could have planned to turn it into a subscription service (pretty unlikely, but who knows…)

WhatsApp originally was a subscription service; when I first signed up, it cost $1 per year.

They dropped the fee in 2016[1], and now Facebook is trying[2] to go back to the subscription model for business.

1. https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/ne...

2. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/10/22/facebook-to-charge-for-whats...

Re:Germany bans Facebook from handling WhatsApp data over pr... by eqvinox on Tuesday May 11, 2021 @10:24PM (#27125948)
Oh, interesting, thanks, I didn't actually know that.