WhatsApp Ads Debut in Updates Section, Personal Chats Unaffected

[MacRumors]

WhatsApp this week introduced advertising to its messaging platform, but your encrypted conversation threads in the Meta-owned app are off limits for marketers – at least for now.

WhatsApp announced on Monday it will display ads through three new features, all contained within the Updates tab. Users will see promoted content in Status updates, discover promoted channels, and encounter subscription-based channel content.

The ads won't appear in personal chats or use encrypted message content for targeting. Instead, WhatsApp said it will rely on basic information like location, language, and channel follows to serve relevant ads.

"We've been talking about our plans to build a business that does not interrupt your personal chats for years," WhatsApp stated in its announcement.

The move comes after years of deliberation. WhatsApp's founders originally opposed advertising, and Meta shelved similar plans in 2020. However, with 1.5 billion daily users of the Updates tab, the company sees clear monetization potential.

Of course, the strategy could easily backfire in privacy-conscious markets like Europe, where users consider WhatsApp a messaging tool rather than a content platform. As it stands though, users who stick to messaging won't notice any changes.

Article Link: WhatsApp Ads Debut in Updates Section, Personal Chats Unaffected

 

[AusMness]

and people wonder why iMessage / RCS is so much more common in NA

 

[Havalo]

The ads won't appear in personal chats or use encrypted message content for targeting. Instead, WhatsApp said it will rely on basic information like location, language, and channel follows to serve relevant ads.

For now until Zucky becomes a little more greedy.

 

[iZac]

No adverts in the chat section yet. Soon they’ll turn WhatsApp into the awful ad congested mess of Facebook Messenger

 

[HopefulHumanist]

If messages are end to end encrypted, how can they ever be used for advertising?

 

[FSMBP]

If messages are end to end encrypted, how can they ever be used for advertising?

I'm sure your phone number is somehow connected to a Meta service (Facebook, IG) or your friend's contact list is uploaded there...so they can build a shadow profile of you in WhatsApp and advertise using that info.

I know people hate iMessage internationally, but I prefer to use that. I despise Meta and glad I quit using them years ago; social media apps that create artificial connections.

 

[steve62388]

If messages are end to end encrypted, how can they ever be used for advertising?

Just insert them into your feed. They can still be targeted because WhatsApp collects loads of data about you (check the App Privacy section of the store).

 

[bob24]

If messages are end to end encrypted, how can they ever be used for advertising?

Even if the actual message content is encrypted, they still have all the metadata: which cities/countries you are in, when you are online, which WhatsApp groups you are part of, which people you communicate with the most at specific times and locations, etc. And with cookies they can also cross-reference this information with your activity on third-party Apps and websites which have Meta ads and services embedded in them.

It makes it pretty easy to infer who are you family members, friends, colleagues, and other social groups, and cross reference centres of interest within those groups.

 

[Mac Fly (film)]

Listen to Eddie Cue and release cross-platform iMessage. Rename the app “iMessage” and allow simple phone number account registration as an option. Pay for the running of the app with in-app cross-platform iMessage money sending.

 

[Shirasaki]

So, does that mean soon chats in WhatsApp will have random ads chimed in during a chat? Like, for real?
I hope there will be variants of WhatsApp that has slightly different features between certain marketplaces. But that hope looks more like a wish in the grand scheme of things.

 

[ralphsd]

time to get rid of this ****. Thanks for nothing but empty promises... https://blog.whatsapp.com/why-we-don-t-sell-ads

 

[daneoni]

Whatsapp, Facebook, and Instagram really epitomise ens**tification. All three were novel apps that facilitated keeping in touch with friends and loved ones in real-time.

Now a cesspool of ads, spam, and scam messages. Whilst you try to find the latest posts from your friend...except it was posted 2 weeks prior but you never got to see it

What a farce.

 

[waziazi]

go figure a zuckborg owned data pit promising privacy and encrypton... now with ads!

these people. all scams. just wait until GPT starts plugging in ads naturally in responses.

they are coming for your babies!!

 

[Ipadonly1]

Fellow Europeans, can we all just please use iMessage/RCS?

 

[waziazi]

Fellow Europeans, can we all just please use iMessage/RCS?

Signal, son

 

[mcilwraith]

Whatsapp has been good....until now. has never been ads before. I mostly use Messages, but some members of my family have android phones, so Whatsapp has been great for that. not sure i can live with ads though!

 

[contacos]

at this point I am surprised they have not made the "Channels" tab the default one when you open the app. I honestly never even open it.

 

[RichTF]

If messages are end to end encrypted, how can they ever be used for advertising?

End-to-end encryption just means your messages can’t be viewed during transit. The messages can be decrypted by the app itself — obviously, otherwise the WhatsApp app wouldn’t be able to show you your messages.

So it would be trivial for the app to be updated to scrape your messages, if that’s what Facebook wants to do. Ultimately, you need to be able to trust the app you use, and the platform (iOS) that you use it on, as both of those things have access to your app content.

(This is in addition to the points other posters here have already made about how valuable the unencrypted meta-data is.)

 

[MNWildFan]

No adverts in the chat section yet. Soon they’ll turn WhatsApp into the awful ad congested mess of Facebook Messenger

Yup, and if they ever stoop to that level, that'll be it for me for WhatsApp

I'm only on it for a very select few that I don't have people's phone numbers for, but other than that, I usually use SMS/RCS/iMessage, Facebook Messenger, GroupMe, or Telegram

Speaking of Facebook Messenger, if WhatsApp can have a CarPlay app, then why can't Messenger???

 

[d686546s]

and people wonder why iMessage / RCS is so much more common in NA

I really doubt that's the reason considering how widely used other services with lots of ads and tracking are in NA (for the record, not just there).

I'm not excusing this, I try to avoid WhatsApp whenever and wherever I can, I'm just not buying that NA users are more ad-averse and privacy conscious than people elsewhere.

 

[TimFL1]

No adverts in the chat section yet. Soon they’ll turn WhatsApp into the awful ad congested mess of Facebook Messenger

They don‘t have to ever offer classic ads in chats. They have Meta AI.

If they‘re smart (or dumb, depending on your viewpoint), they start to let Meta AI give you suggestions on various topics (e.g. when you talk to it about topic XYZ, it can slowly inch you towards a solution or product of company A via subtle nudges / recommendations). Next generation of ads on the same tier as brainwashing.

That is going to sell like crazy with advertisers.

I‘ve been saying it ever since WhatsApp was bought in 2014: can‘t fool me, I know what your end goal is. Meta tried hard over the last decade, continuously trying to push ensh*tification forward (updated ToS that allow data sharing between Meta companies, new business chat ToS, forced account linking, this also isn‘t their first try at ads). EU has shut down most of these pushes, but Meta is Meta. Only a matter of time.

 

[Rayansb]

Just you wait.

 

[FoxyKaye]

LOVE THIS!!!

</sarcasm>

Time to finish the switch to Signal, I suppose.

 

[TheDailyApple]

Wish I could convince more of my friends to use signal. iMessage is nice enough for those who have iPhones, but many have androids or are from countries where whatsapp is popular

 

[iZac]

They don‘t have to ever offer classic ads in chats. They have Meta AI.

If they‘re smart (or dumb, depending on your viewpoint), they start to let Meta AI give you suggestions on various topics (e.g. when you talk to it about topic XYZ, it can slowly inch you towards a solution or product of company A via subtle nudges / recommendations). Next generation of ads on the same tier as brainwashing.

That is going to sell like crazy with advertisers.

I‘ve been saying it ever since WhatsApp was bought in 2014: can‘t fool me, I know what your end goal is. Meta tried hard over the last decade, continuously trying to push ensh*tification forward (updated ToS that allow data sharing between Meta companies, new business chat ToS, forced account linking, this also isn‘t their first try at ads). EU has shut down most of these pushes, but Meta is Meta. Only a matter of time.

Oh god no, the dawn of the Chatbot shill!