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Here's a blog post from WhatsApp in 2012 on why they don't sell ads:

https://web.archive.org/web/20120619170843/http://blog.whats...

I remember when I read that article. It was a great idea. When they sold WhatsApp to Facebook however, I realized that this is potentially the fate of any for-profit business.

I agree. That's why I have become a much bigger champion for non-profit businesses.

Hey Brian, great to see you on here. Any updates or thoughts as to where Signal is these days? I would love to switch over to it as my primary messenger, but the majority of my non-tech friends haven't heard of it before.

Longshot: Hey Brian any way I could share an idea with you. I too have been getting sick of ad dominated internet services

Yeah, well, there's a reason the founders didn't get along with Zuckerberg et al. and bailed out after the takeover...

Easy enough to stick to your principles if the point was to sell the business from the beginning?

No need to worry about profitability, just get big enough to sell then let whoever buys add the ads.

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