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NEW DELHI: Facebook-owned WhatsApp , the popular mobile messaging service, is considering opening its platform for businesses to communicate with their customers.This could be a potential way to monetize the service but will also allow brands and marketers to contact users leaving them vulnerable to spam. Telemarketers are already using the platform to send unwanted promotional messages to users.The development was first reported by Bloomberg, which cited Facebook chief financial officer David Wehner, who spoke about the plans at a tech conference in Boston."We think that enabling that B2C [business-to-consumer] messaging has good business potential for us. As we learn those things, I think there’s going to be opportunities to bring some of those things to WhatsApp, but that’s more longer term."Earlier this year, Facebook opened its Messenger service for developers to create apps and for shoppers to communicate directly with retailers.According to the Bloomberg report, WhatsApp may use some functions that are being tested with Facebook Messenger.Acquired by Facebook at $22 billion, the popular messaging service WhatsApp has a user base of 800 million. At this growth rate, the messaging service is fast approaching the 1 billion mark, which Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg believes, is the level when it could start to become a meaningful business.