Amaya Toman Facebook launches its own payment system in the style of Apple Pay. Through it, users will be able to pay for products and services, donate to charity or send money to each other. The Facebook Pay service will initially be available only on Facebook, but should gradually be extended to Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger.
"People are already using payments across our apps to shop, donate to charity and send money to each other," states in official statement Deborah Liu, VP of Marketplace and Commerce, adds that Facebook Pay is designed specifically to enable digital payments within Facebook's app environment. Unlike the competing Apple Pay, however, it is not possible (yet) via Facebook Pay make payments in brick-and-mortar stores.
Users who want to activate the Facebook Pay service will have to provide Facebook with their debit or credit card information, or information from the PayPal system. They can then purchase goods they've seen in a Facebook ad, for example, and pay for them via Facebook Pay.
Deborah Liu points out that payments on Facebook are not really new, recalling that it has been possible to pay on Facebook since 2007. In addition, in 2015, Facebook introduced the option of fundraising, and has already processed more than two billion dollars in relevant contributions.
However, a payment system as such was not considered until relatively recently - Mark Zuckerberg claimed in 2016 that his company is not a "payment company" and has no intention of developing the relevant system. At the time, he called Apple Pay a really useful innovation.
The service is currently only available in the United States. Over time, however, it should expand to other countries of the world.
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Petr Škuta 