50% Americans don't know who owns WhatsApp: Survey
It may sound bizarre but nearly 50 per cent of Americans who have used WhatsApp in the last six months have no idea who owns the popular mobile messaging platform.
![50% Americans don't know who owns WhatsApp: Survey 50% Americans don't know who owns WhatsApp: Survey](https://cdn.zeebiz.com/sites/default/files/styles/zeebiz_850x478/public/2018/10/20/56478-americans-reuters.jpg?itok=pbC1e7B2&c=6d23f19e03ad76a98caf317d7cbc7d57)
San Francisco: It may sound bizarre but nearly 50 per cent of Americans who have used WhatsApp in the last six months have no idea who owns the popular mobile messaging platform. According to a survey by DuckDuckGo, the US-based privacy-protecting search engine, just over half of US citizens (50.42 per cent) do not know WhatsApp is owned by Facebook.
"We randomly selected 1,297 US adults (not just DuckDuckGo users) who are collectively demographically similar to the general population of US adults and surveyed them on August 16, 2018. "Half of those who used WhatsApp in the past six months weren`t aware that Facebook owns WhatsApp," said the survey.
The findings also showed that nearly 60 per cent of those who used Waze in the past six months didn`t know that Google owns Waze. Waze is a popular GPS navigation software. It works on smartphones and tablet computers that have GPS support.
"This means that a majority of Americans who are using WhatsApp and/or Waze are doing so without realising that all of their information, whether it be routes, travel time, messages, photos, or location data, is privy to Facebook (for WhatsApp) and Google (for Waze)," said the survey.
Watch this Zee Business video here:
According to the survey, the lack of awareness over Facebook and Google`s reach is even more alarming as more and more Americans are looking to take control of their privacy online. A previous survey by DuckDuckGo found that 56.9 per cent of American adults were unaware that Facebook owns Instagram and 44.6 per cent did not even know that Google owns YouTube.
Facebook in 2014 acquired WhatsApp for $19 billion. Both WhatsApp co-founders - Brian Acton and Jan Koum - have quit Facebook over data privacy and Facebook`s plans to monetise WhatsApp.
Get Latest Business News, Stock Market Updates and Videos; Check your tax outgo through Income Tax Calculator and save money through our Personal Finance coverage. Check Business Breaking News Live on Zee Business Twitter and Facebook. Subscribe on YouTube.
RECOMMENDED STORIES
![https://www.zeebiz.com/personal-finance/photo-gallery-sip-swp-monthly-pension-income-retirement-corpus-planning-calculator-inr-rs-20000-monthly-investment-for-15-years-inr-99000-monthly-return-for-42-years-313283](https://cdn.zeebiz.com/sites/default/files/styles/zeebiz_700x394/public/2024/09/06/316973-rupee-pixabay-take-1.jpg?itok=02-hJh59)
SIP+SWP: Rs 20,000 monthly SIP for 16 years to get Rs 99,000 monthly income for 42 years; how is it possible?
![https://www.zeebiz.com/market-news/news-bajaj-finserv-rvnl-borosil-renewables-carysil-railtel-corporation-stocks-to-buy-hdfc-securities-recommendation-picks-target-stop-loss-bse-nse-313386](https://cdn.zeebiz.com/sites/default/files/styles/zeebiz_700x394/public/2024/09/06/317091-26.jpg?itok=gE1cWt7z)
RVNL, Bajaj Finserv and 5 more: Brokerage recommends buying these 7 stocks for up to 3 months | Check target, stop loss
![https://www.zeebiz.com/personal-finance/photo-gallery-nps-vs-ups-vs-ops-monthly-pension-income-retirement-corpus-calculator-what-will-be-your-pension-on-inr-rs-10000-contribution-for-35-years-expert-calculations-313361](https://cdn.zeebiz.com/sites/default/files/styles/zeebiz_700x394/public/2024/09/06/317060-rupee-pixabay-take-2.jpg?itok=cOVdof_v)
NPS vs UPS vs OPS: What will be your monthly pension if you contribute Rs 10,000 monthly for 35 years? Get expert calculations
![https://www.zeebiz.com/personal-finance/photo-gallery-top-7-etf-sip-mutual-funds-in-5-years-calculator-how-inr-rs-21000-monthly-investment-has-grown-in-nifty-sp-bse-next-50-cpse-uti-icici-pru-nippon-india-motilal-oswal-bharat-22-nift-mid-infra-313306](https://cdn.zeebiz.com/sites/default/files/styles/zeebiz_700x394/public/2024/09/06/316994-indian-currency-pixabay-take-1.jpg?itok=JURVEkst)
Top 7 ETF Mutual Funds With Highest SIP Returns in 5 Years: How Rs 21,000 monthly SIP has grown in each ETF over the years
![https://www.zeebiz.com/personal-finance/photo-gallery-sbi-senior-citizen-fd-fixed-deposit-latest-interest-rate-2024-calculator-what-be-maturity-amount-with-return-on-investments-of-inr-900000-lakh-in-1-3-5-year-guaranteed-return-scheme-retirement-planning-313221](https://cdn.zeebiz.com/sites/default/files/styles/zeebiz_700x394/public/2024/09/06/316909-note-coin-pixabay-take-1.jpg?itok=3RPKcBYE)
SBI Senior Citizen FD Rates 2024: What you can get if you invest Rs 3 lakh, Rs 5 lakh, Rs 7 lakh, and Rs 9 lakh in 1-, 3-, and 5-year FDs
10:52 AM IST