Shocking! Shocking! When was the last time you heard that Facebook did what was right and good for consumers? I can't quite remember. But today, according to the Wall Street Journal, something positive happened. [Facebook Inc. is backing away from efforts to sell advertising on WhatsApp, retreating from a controversial plan that forced the creator of the popular messaging service to resign more than 18 months ago, according to people familiar with the matter."

What the heck? It may be too late, but it looks like a wise decision has finally been made: the WSJ reports that WhatsApp has disbanded the team that developed the ad service and their code has been removed from the app's codebase. That's fantastic.

The WSJ goes on to say that Facebook now wants to enable ways for companies to connect with their customers, as many brands already do. In Europe and other parts of the world, people regularly use WhatsApp to connect with brands and get support and information.

Great news, right? Because the report states that Facebook plans to add advertising to WhatsApp. However, there will be no ads in the actual chats. While that plan is "frozen," Facebook is considering putting ads in the status pane. That's good. Not that bad.

And of course, regardless of this WhatsApp change, Facebook still has big problems. Not only has the company continued to have one of the worst privacy records and complete disregard for its users over the last few years, but it also doesn't want to stop politicians from their right to communicate, insisting that people can judge their lies anyway, and insisting on placing false ads in political ads.

Still, a small victory is a victory.