Despite Libra Hurdles, Facebook Announces Its All-App Payments Service Facebook Pay

| Updated
by Bhushan Akolkar · 2 min read
Despite Libra Hurdles, Facebook Announces Its All-App Payments Service Facebook Pay
Photo: Facebook

The Facebook Pay will be a unified payment service available across all Facebook apps like Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp. This service will work independently from Facebook’s Calibra network and wallet.

Social media giant Facebook Inc. has now decided to consolidate all of its payment services under a single umbrella. On Tuesday, November 12, Facebook announced its Facebook Pay platform which would facilitate ” a convenient, secure and consistent payment experience across Facebook, Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp”.

Facebook’s announcement comes just in a week’s time after it announced a new parent company logo as part of its rebranding efforts. The social media giant said that a lot of its users already use its payment services across its suite of applications.

Facebook Pay, it says, will help in bringing an integrated experience while simplifying transactions. Facebook added that the new platform will simultaneously ensure that customers’ payment data is secure and protected. Thus, across all its apps, there is only one system – Facebook Pay – storing users’ debit and credit card information.

Facebook says that with its Facebook Pay payments platform, it can help businesses grow while simultaneously empowering people to grow and sell online.

Facebook Pay Independent of Libra

We already know that Facebook has been facing regulatory heat with respect to privacy concerns. Furthermore, the company has ruffled its feather with regulators by announcing its native cryptocurrency. Considering this, Facebook has clarified that the Facebook Pay platform is “built on existing financial infrastructure and partnerships”.

It has also explicitly stated that Facebook Pay services will be independent and isolated from the Calibra wallet as well as the Libra network.

Facebook Pay will begin rolling out on Facebook and Messenger this week in the US for fundraisers, in-game purchases, event tickets, person-to-person payments on Messenger and purchases from select Pages and businesses on Facebook Marketplace,” said the company.

Later, it will bring Facebook Pay services to other regions as well as apps like WhatsApp and Instagram. Some experts think that these efforts from Facebook are to defend itself and possible breakup. Facebook is currently facing anti-trust scrutiny from the regulators. Thus, unifying all its brands will help them create a shield against any regulatory action trying to spin-off Facebook subsidiaries.

In the U.S, Facebook Pay will compete directly against the likes of Google Pay, Apple Pay, Venmo, and Square. The competition is going to be tough and the only leverage Facebook has is its huge user-base.

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