When Facebook/Instagram/WhatsApp tell you they don't even want your data it's a trick - but not why you think.

When they tell you in their press statements that your messages are always encrypted and unreadable and that they "don't even want your data" they are trying to trick you into thinking your information is safe. It is true, they don't want your messages. That data is unuseable. Facebook tried for years to tailor your ads to the things you specifically talked about (in status updates etc) but the subtleties of language, slang, sarcasm Etc made it impossible with current technology. They could just as easily market something to you that you just sarcastically said you "love" leading to very poor ad results that would displease the companies buying that ad space. It was a huge failure.

What they do want is to be able to tie together everything you do online. Facebook accomplished this on the desktop by adding their "like" button to every website known to man. So for most people, whatever you do on a desktop browser is monitored by Facebook. They own the desktop space when it comes to knowing who you are and how to market to you.

However in the last few years everyone is moving to mobile and this is a completely different environment. People do much more in apps on their mobile devices than in browsers and those apps are essentially walled gardens. Facebook has trouble getting to that data and linking your device (and essentially who you are) to everything you are doing on mobile. So they want to expand this reach into a new app and get more identifiable information about you that can be used to track you. The WhatsApp info sharing is one more giant step in Facebook owning your entire online life, but on mobile this time. They are already number one in mobile ads because they had a head start with their mobile app getting there first while no one else knew how to properly track you on mobile.

So while it is true they don't even want to read your messages or invade your "privacy" that is the straw man argument they are using to make you feel like the information they actually are getting isn't very useful or invasive when it is actually the most useful and valuable information that currently exists for advertisers.

If you want to know more specifics I recommend the book "Choas Monkeys" (no affiliation)

by zampe http://ift.tt/2bHAv1j