Facebook Pay is a rebranding of a number of existing payment features into one user experience across the social network's apps, the company said Tuesday.
You can already make payments in the form of donations and in-app purchases inside various Facebook-owned products, and soon you'll be able to do that across Facebook's apps through one system that will store user credit and debit cards.
The move comes as Facebook is integrating its services, especially the messaging applications, so that users can easily move between apps and understand Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger are owned by the same company. Facebook introduced new corporate branding earlier this month to give more clarity on what products it owns, and the company is unifying its three messaging services so users of one can send messages to people on the others.
Some critics have said these efforts are a way for Facebook to defend itself against a possible breakup. The company is under antitrust scrutiny from multiple regulatory agencies, and the idea of unifying its branding, and its messaging and payments products, could be an effort to keep regulators from trying to spin off parts of the Facebook empire.
People won't be able to use Facebook Pay to hold cash, but can use it to store their credit or debit card information for easier use. Existing payments partners like Stripe Inc. and PayPal Holdings Inc. will continue to process payments for the Menlo Park, California-based company. Facebook is rolling out Facebook Pay to its core social network and Messenger in the U.S. beginning this week, with plans to bring it to Instagram and WhatsApp down the line as well.
Facebook is also building a separate digital wallet, called Calibra, for storing and spending its proposed digital currency Libra. That wallet doesn't yet exist and a Facebook spokeswoman said it is a separate effort from Facebook Pay.
