[ReptileMan]

>so I understand Meta's appetite to become the West WeChat

Revolut will probably get there first

>It's 100% unrealistic that a global, always on, high availability, high security service is free. These things are expensive and they need to be monetized.

Do you have any information how much whatsapp costs per user per month? Threema seems to be doing fine with just one 5$ forever.

[tigroferoce]

I have no numbers. I remember that it was designed to be very efficient and easy to maintain, but this was before Meta bought it. Things probably changed, and keep in mind that they need to return of the 19B investment in 2014, so they are probably aiming at much more than just covering the costs.

[palata]

> they need to return of the 19B investment in 2014

WhatsApp gave Meta a huge social graph: who writes to whom and when. That they used for their other services. Surely that already brought value.