Facebook Announces New Payment System 'Facebook Pay'

Facebook was in the news again on Tuesday after announcing it was working on adding a payment system across Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp, and the Facebook platform itself. Shares gained 2.6% in reaction to the news, which is likely tied to the development of the Libra cryptocurrency by Facebook.

The move is expected to consolidate the Facebook properties even more closely together even though some Federal lawmakers have been after the company to be broken up into smaller pieces.

Labeleed “Facebook Pay” the payment system is being called by Facebook part of its ongoing effort to make ecommerce more secure and accessible for those using any of the Facebook owned platforms.

The service will be a direct competitor to Square and to ApplePay, and will begin rolling out later this week on Facebook and Messenger. On Facebook it will initially be available on select business and pages from Facebook Marketplace, while Messenger will include person-to-person payments, event payments, in-game purchases, and fundraisers.

Facebook says users will be able to add their preferred payment method, which includes major credit and debit cards as well as Paypal. Payments can then be made from this payment method without entering details each time. It will also allow customers to view their payment history and get real-time support via an online chat feature.

Security has been an issue at Facebook, but they say this feature will encrypt card information and bank information as well as performing anti-fraud monitoring.

Shares of Facebook were up 2.6% following the announcement and have gained 48.4% since the start of the year.