The top 10 countries in the world that use the WhatsApp application the most included in United States

Since it kicked off in 2009, WhatsApp has really changed. It started out just as a basic texting app but now it’s a major global platform, hitting over 2.5 billion active users by 2024. With this huge growth, WhatsApp has become a big player in the economy, influencing sales and how people shop online.

In 2014, Facebook bought WhatsApp for a whopping $19 billion, beating out Google which had previously offered $1 billion in 2013, as per The Guardian. This purchase was a landmark moment for Facebook.

By 2024, WhatsApp brought in about $1.7 billion, mostly from its business version, according to sites like “Slickflow” and “Business of Apps.” This version has helped companies use its features for customer service and marketing inside Meta’s ecosystem, which itself made around $164.5 billion that year.

Even though it doesn’t cost anything to use and doesn’t show ads, the founders Jan Koum and Brian Acton focused on user privacy from the start. Koum wrote a piece called “Why We Don’t Sell Ads,” saying that “no one wakes up excited to see more ads,” and they were committed to not using personal data for profit.

Eventually, WhatsApp rolled out paid features for businesses, like the “Business API,” which lets big companies communicate with customers for a fee based on how many messages they send and where they are located. They also introduced the “Click to Message” feature that connects Facebook ads with WhatsApp business accounts.

Well-known companies like Chevrolet, Lenovo, Samsung, and L’Oréal have jumped on these tools. WhatsApp has teamed up with big names like Amazon and Uber in Latin America and India, as noted by The New York Times. Meta’s VP of Products, Nikila Srinivasan, mentioned that over 200 million businesses globally are using WhatsApp for Business.

The WhatsApp Business app, which came out in 2018, was tailored to meet what businesses need. It provides cool features like profiles, automated replies, and ways to keep conversations organized, plus it allows businesses to show products directly in an in-app catalog.

Data from “Contexto” showed that Brazil topped the revenue charts for WhatsApp, raking in $5.28 billion in 2022, followed by Mexico with $1.94 billion, highlighting how important Latin America is for WhatsApp’s strategy.

When we look at revenue growth, here’s how WhatsApp has done over the years:

2018: $443 million

2019: $507 million

2020: $632 million

2021: $790 million

2022: $906 million

2023: $1.3 billion

2024: $1.7 billion

At the same time, its user count surged from 103 million in 2012 to 2.5 billion by 2024, with total downloads topping 6.3 billion by then.

But, even with its success, WhatsApp has faced some backlash over privacy issues after it updated its policies in 2021. This stirred up a lot of controversy, especially in India, where lawsuits were filed against it in the Delhi High Court. The court saw the new policy as forcing users to share their data, which they said is a violation of privacy.

The app has also been criticized for helping spread rumors and false information, especially during elections in places like Brazil and India, with not enough effort to tackle this problem. Regulators, particularly in Europe, are pushing for stricter regulations on apps like this.

Plus, WhatsApp’s strong presence in emerging markets raises concerns about increasing monopolization that could hurt competition. U.S. documents revealed that Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg talked about separating Instagram from Meta back in 2018 in case of potential legal troubles. The Federal Trade Commission is now trying to undo Meta's purchases of WhatsApp and Instagram.