Early WhatsApp employees found a new “Anti Facebook”

Facebook or more recently “Meta” is the most powerful internet company in the world. More than 2.8 billion people use the company’s services every day, alone 58 million people in Germany the messenger “WhatsApp”. In almost everyone In other countries around the world, either WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger are the most popular chat apps, while in others Facebook is considered the “Internet”.

The influence that Meta (Facebook) has on the world is enormous. But the company has not really treated this responsibly in the past. Regardless of whether Cambridge Analytica, the Dealing with hate or the impact on the mental health of children. The founders of a new network want to solve this problem HalloApp hears.

What makes it different from already existing networks like Telegram or Signal? Well, it has prominent founders: Neeraj Arora and Michael Donohue. Both were key figures on WhatsApp until Facebook bought and took over Messenger in 2014. So they know how to build a successful network and are both strong meta (Facebook) critics. When selling WhatsApp, they tried to keep the app as free of advertising and algorithms as possible, but they couldn’t stop it completely.

But what makes HalloApp so special? Well, it’s an “anti-Facebook”, that is, it has a completely different business model. The app is currently still free (and financed by investors), but will likely be monetized via a subscription model in the future. The network has no advertising, no bots (since it can only be used with a phone number), no followers and no algorithms. It is purely intended to connect friends with friends and not tap any user data. In addition, every chat is secured with end-to-end encryption. In its business model, Facebook puts profit before the safety of its users, at least according to whistleblower Frances Haugen. This led to radicalization of people who were disinformed by fake news. Because these spread faster on Facebook than on any other platform. This can lead to escalations like the storm on the Capitol in early 2021, because Facebook was partly in favor of radicalization jointly responsible.

HalloApp is already available in popular stores, but it is still in beta. So far, the founders do not want to advertise the app in any big way, as it is still early in development. Above all else, they want the app to be “recommended by friends and family”. That could also be the key to success, because personal recommendations are usually more effective than advertising.

But do you need HalloApp? I am very curious how the app will develop and whether it will find a place on the market in the long term. Because social media, especially under the guidance of Facebook / Meta, is developing more and more into a place of hate, envy and impersonality. This is largely fueled by algorithms that HalloApp simply does not have. In addition, with free offers you are the product yourself, it is not always clear (at least for me) which data is collected and stored and how exactly. Fake news and cyberbullying are starting to prevail, so HalloApp comes at the right time to fight this.

I would definitely be ready for a secure messenger with a focus on private conversations and paying money without algorithms, it just has to convince the user of the “advantages”. Because paying for digital wellbeing is different from buying a Netflix subscription or Spotify Premium. This could be one of the biggest hurdles the founders have to overcome strategically. Because we are now used to paying no more money for many services. But the Germans in particular could be open to such an app. In Germany, many are very concerned about their data and already complain when they have to leave their phone number in a restaurant because of Covid-19. Therefore, Germany could become an important market for HalloApp.