Facebook Pay Will Offer Integrated Payments On WhatsApp, FB & Instagram

Yesterday Facebook announced a new payment service that will work across WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram. The service will enable users to “send money to friends, shop for goods, or even donate to fundraisers”.

In a blog post announcing the payment service, Facebook highlighted the fact that the payment service will support major credit cards/debit cards as well as Paypal to begin with:

Facebook Pay supports most major credit and debit cards as well as PayPal. Payments are processed in partnership with companies like PayPal, Stripe and others around the world.

For those wondering how this affects Libra – Facebook’s crypto – that’s still on the way:

Facebook Pay is built on existing financial infrastructure and partnerships, and is separate from the Calibra wallet which will run on the Libra network

Regarding security and privacy, aspects that have become compromised at Facebook over the past two years due to data scandal after data scandal Facebook says user privacy and data will be protected.

We designed Facebook Pay to securely store and encrypt your card and bank account numbers, perform anti-fraud monitoring on our systems to detect unauthorized activity and provide notifications for account activity. You can also add a PIN or use your device biometrics, such as touch or face ID recognition, for an extra layer of security when sending money or making a payment.

Initially, Facebook Pay will roll out in the US before launching in other markets though the company hasn’t mentioned when it will become available internationally.

Considering that Facebook has eCommerce functionality, Instagram allows people to buy from within their application and WhatsApp has been working on its payment services for a while now it comes as no surprise that Facebook Pay will work across all 3 services.

There still is some confusion regarding WhatsApp pay. Will WhatsApp continue working on that since that was only being tested in India or will Facebook Pay now take its place?