

“I have no problem at all with the people at Facebook it’s just that their leadership policy is not compatible with ours,” Agaoua said. But, having said all that, the Viber CEO was quick to note that it is mainly Facebook’s policies that need changing. So for now, it’s a polite “no” from Viber to any business proposition from Facebook something which Agaoua said they’ve had to do recently.

It’s more about the willingness to make it happen,” Agaoua said. So we’re not talking about is this something doable it perfectly is. The very same tools they are using to scan chats, pictures, videos for the purpose of advertising, should be used to moderate violent speeches, and eradicate them from the platform.

They have tools that are so powerful, they could solve the problem in the snap of a finger. On Viber, this is something that they are willing to get rid of, says Agaoua, at least for public chat groups or communities, because the company, again, doesn’t read private correspondence. The rest comes from telecommunication services (40 percent) and brand collaborations (40 percent).Īnd then there is the matter of misinformation, as well as hate speech. Viber, on the other hand, only relies on advertising for 20 percent of its revenue (“and we intend to stay in that area,” Agaoua emphasized). To do this, you need to store everything that users put on the platform, and everything is scanned, stored and analyzed for advertising purposes,” Agaoua said. “When your revenue is based only on advertising, you need to improve all the time your ability to target users. One difference he notes is how Facebook relies 100 percent on advertising revenue hence, the need for the company to “listen in” even on private conversations on their messaging platform, and to store data. We have a completely different policy from Facebook,” said Agaoua, emphasizing that private exchanges in Viber are all encrypted. What he reassures Viber users of is their messaging service’s security. The Facebook Connect feature, for example, only affected around 7 percent of Viber’s users, and even then, Agaoua said they took the time to carefully craft the necessary communication materials so that users wouldn’t mind the change. For Viber’s users, Agaoua said the severance of Viber’s ties with Facebook won’t change the platform’s customer experience offering.
