Facebook has launched its new payment service called Facebook Pay in the United States. This new service lets user pay other people and businesses across different platforms from the company, which includes Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and Instagram.
Users can add debit or credit card to Facebook Pay and choose if they want it available in certain apps or all Facebook apps. Initially, the service will be available on Facebook and Messenger to pay for fundraisers, in-game purchases, event tickets, person-to-person payments, and select pages on Facebook Marketplace.
While the company has said that the service will be rolling out to Instagram as well as WhatsApp, it has not provided any specific timeline for the same. This is interesting given that Facebook has been testing WhatsApp Pay service in India since the past one and a half year.
The company has even confirmed that it is ready to launch the service by the end of this year. However, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) told the Supreme Court that the company is not yet compliant with the data localization norms, thus, hasn’t been granted the license for full-scale operation.
With the launch of this new service in the United States, Facebook Pay will compete with some of the big names in the industry such as Square, Venmo, Google Pay, and Apple Pay. It seems that Facebook is betting on its huge userbase to make this fin-tech project a success. However, not a lot of people might comfortable to make payments on Facebook because of the company’s shabby record of handling personal data of the users.
How to use Facebook Pay?
- Go to Facebook website or app and select Settings
- Select the option ‘Facebook Pay’
- Now select the payment method
- Whenever you make the next payment, use this new payment service
As said, this payment service is compatible with most debit cards and credit cards along with other payments platform such as PayPal and Stripe. Users will have the option to add a PIN or use their device’ biometrics for authentication or extra layer of security.
Where you can use it?
This new service will enable users to pay for fundraisers, donations, in-game purchases, event tickets, to pay friends on Messenger, and purchases from “select Pages and businesses” on Facebook Marketplaces.
Facebook will not automatically set up Facebook Pay on other apps (Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger) unless the user chooses to do so. If the wish to have the service automatically set up in other apps, they can use the service of Facebook app-by-app.
Clarification from Facebook
In a parallel blog, the company has clarified that this new Facebook Pay payment service is separate from the company’s bitcoin-based Calibra wallet, which will run on Libra network.
Facebook has also clarified that it will be collecting information such as transaction date, billing, shipping and contact details, and the platform will use this information to show you more “relevant content and ads”.
