Two key Facebook and WhatsApp executives quit

San Francisco: Facebook, busy developing more private and encrypted communication across its apps, has lost two of its top executives -- Chief Product Officer Chris Cox and WhatsApp Vice President Chris Daniels, CEO Mark Zuckerberg has announced.

Embroiled in data privacy scandals amid the unabated spread of fake news on its platform, Facebook has lately seen several high-profile exits, including Jan Koum and Brian Acton, co-founders of WhatsApp.

"Cox and I have worked closely together to build our products for more than a decade and I will always appreciate his deep empathy for the people using our services and the uplifting spirit he brings to everything he does," Zuckerberg said in a blog post late Thursday.

In a separate Facebook post, Cox said Facebook is turning a new page in its product direction, focused on an encrypted, interoperable, messaging network.

"It's a product vision attuned to the subject matter of today: a modern communications platform that balances expression, safety, security, and privacy.

"This will be a big project and we will need leaders who are excited to see the new direction through," wrote Cox, who was one of the first 15 engineers Facebook hired 13 years

back.