Facebook Launches New Payment Service With Libra on Hold
Posted by ABEER ANWAAR
Facebook might be facing the backlash of a lifetime for its efforts to enter the financial world with its proposed stablecoin project Libra, but the social media giant is not ready to back down as it just launched a new fiat payment system dubbed Facebook Pay.
The platform introduced its new project in an announcement on November 12th, according to which Facebook Pay is a payment system specifically engineered to facilitate payments across all Facebook-owned online platforms. The announcement read:
Today we’re introducing Facebook Pay, which will provide people with a convenient, secure and consistent payment experience across Facebook, Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp.
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While the platform’s recent launch might appear to be a desperate move to enter the financial sphere in the wake of Libra being completely stonewalled by the regulators, the company emphasizes it is anything but. The announcement clarified that people already use payments across their applications in order to shop, donate and even to transfer money to each other.
Facebook Pay will make these transactions easier while continuing to ensure your payment information is secure and protected
Said Deborah Liu, VP, marketplace & commerce at Facebook, as she further outlined all the benefits that Facebook Pay has to offer. As per the post, where users will have to go through the hassle of adding their preferred payment method only once on any of the platforms, as opposed to re-entering the payment information each time.
Another important point Liu highlighted was that the user would be in control of setting up their Facebook Pay app-by-app, meaning that the platform will not automatically set it up across the apps an individual is active on. Moreover, users will have the liberty to view their payment history, manage payment methods and update their settings in one place.
The post further mentioned that the company would start rolling out the new payment service on Facebook and Messenger within 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. Meanwhile, the new service will be available on Instagram and WhatsApp over a period of time.
Facebook, in order to avoid any regulatory issues with Facebook Pay, has clearly stated that the new service is “built on existing financial infrastructure and partnerships”; and that it will be kept separate from the Libra network, which still doesn’t have a certain launch date yet.
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