Back in 2020, Brazil launched the PIX system of instant money transfer between any and every bank within the country. Meta was already trying to implement Whatsapp Pay in Brazil around late May, but was being held back by regulation agencies, on purpose, in order for PIX to rollout first. PIX started working around November 2020, while Whatsapp Pay was allowed to resume work in March 2021, but it fell flat and was scrapped away some time later.

For context, some 98% of Brazilian phones have whatsapp and it is the 2nd largest market for the app, only behind India. Had Meta gotten its way, a huge number of Brazilians would’ve had their finances controlled by Meta.