But you've set a precedent that you will cut and run, which negatively affects how people coordinate with you on things.

Look at Google. We have a bunch of people who don't want to use their new APIs because they've experienced those APIs going away in the past. Ironically, by resisting using them they create a self fulfilling prophecy. An API that lasts 3 years is not more likely to last 6 years than an API that has been around for 1 year will last for 4. By delaying they've just put themselves closer to the drop dead date.

Point is, that dynamic hurts everybody, not just the people avoiding engaging with someone with a questionable track record.

Only if you reduce ethics to a math problem.

> Is the good you're doing via whatsapp enough to outweigh how you could leverage 19B?

That's a very good point. Still, with $19B on the line, I bet there's no shortage of people who would help me rationalize doing something else with that money once it was in my hands.

I tend to have a pretty pessimistic view of human nature, but maybe I'm unfairly projecting my own weaknesses onto the rest of humanity.

Sure, there's lots to consider. But as a user of whatsapp since they wrote this article, and that has been trying to get my friends and family off whatsapp since they got acquired by FB, I am terribly sorry that they took that deal.