+

Cookies on the Business Insider India website

Business Insider India has updated its Privacy and Cookie policy. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the better experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we\'ll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies on the Business Insider India website. However, you can change your cookie setting at any time by clicking on our Cookie Policy at any time. You can also see our Privacy Policy.

Close
HomeQuizzoneWhatsappShare Flash Reads
 

SNAPCHAT COMPETITOR: 'The Last Thing I Want To Do Is Sell To Facebook. They're The Devil.'

Nov 21, 2013, 01:38 IST

Wikimedia/Photo Illustration

Nico Sell is co-founder of Wickr, an encrypted self-destructing messaging service comparable to Snapchat.

Advertisement

When we asked her about Snapchat's recent decision to turn down a monstrous $3 billion sale to Facebook, she said it was a savvy move.

"Snapchat's worth more than $3 billion," she said. "It's as big as Facebook and is still growing exponentially. They have yet to really go international as well. When I ask people from outside the U.S. about Snapchat, they haven't heard of it. So there's still growth to come."

If a jilted Facebook were to turn its sights to Wickr for an acquisition, Sell told us that she would not only turn down a $5 billion offer from Facebook, she would turn down any and all offers from the company.

"The last thing I want to do is sell to Facebook. They're the devil," she said. "This type of a communication is a human right. Everyone in the world deserves it, and I'd never sell to a company that would complicate that."

Advertisement

It's a reasonable conclusion to arrive at. Facebook has a less-than-stellar reputation when it comes to matters of privacy and handling user data.

In a previous interview with Business Insider, Sell went over some of the basics of Wickr: "No one else can see the message except the person you sent it to and on the device you sent it. So even if someone was to try to intercept there's nothing they can do with it. It doesn't touch servers except your phone. We've taken standard encryption and found a really great way to make it easier to use[...] Wickr is 100 times better than Snapchat because you can send longer messages, up to 6 days, it's secure, anonymous, and private. Much more full-featured."

Founded in 2012, Wickr is run by a collection of people specializing in a number of fields ranging from cryptography to privacy and security. The company's app is free, and you can grab it here.

You are subscribed to notifications!
Looks like you've blocked notifications!
Next Article