Facebook owns Instagram and WhatsApp and has now started to rebrand its popular applications to ‘Instagram from Facebook’ and ‘WhatsApp from Facebook’. The move comes as Facebook faces scrutiny from regulators over privacy issues and with whom Facebook shares user information. This is a big move from Facebook as it allowed Instagram and WhatsApp to operate and be branded independently.
The employees of Instagram and WhatsApp were recently informed about the changes as antitrust regulators are examining Facebook’s acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp. Facebook is also using a similar naming pattern for its other apps including ‘Workplace'(‘Workplace by Facebook’) which is a collaboration and communication tool that connects employees to one another via an internal social network.
The rebranding is said to be taking place gradually and the company has started adding its name to some screens on Instagram for iOS and Android. The ‘About’ section on PlayStore for WhatsApp for Android shows the rebranding i.e., ‘WhatsApp by Facebook’ and some screens of Instagram for iOS and Android are seeing the rebranding.
In other news, there were reports that Facebook plans to integrate its messaging services — WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook Messenger by the end of this year or by early 2020.
Commenting on this, Bertie Thomson, a Facebook spokeswoman said:
We want to be clearer about the products and services that are part of Facebook