The deployment of WhatsApp’s advertisements will change the application forever

This week, WhatsApp did something that his founders said he would never do: it puts advertisements inside the application. He finished the series of Decades of WhatsApp to offer an experience of messaging and call without advertising.

Meta, who acquired WhatsApp in 2014, tried to justify the decision by saying that the announcements will be kidnapped in her “Updates” tab, where you will see certain sponsored status updates. The state of WhatsApp allows users to share photos, videos and text messages that disappear after 24 hours – but now you will also see companies. “If you only use WhatsApp to chat with friends and relatives, there is no change in your experience,” Meta writes in her ad.

But the deployment of advertisements in its state function could be just the start of Meta, who ratified the most At 160 billion dollars in Facebook and Instagram advertising revenue in 2024. META says that her announcements are built with “confidentiality in mind” and will not rely on your messages, calls and personal statutes, which will remain encrypted. Instead, WhatsApp limits announcements to target elements like your city, your country, the language, the channels you follow and the way you interact with the announcements. However, bringing targeted announcements to the platform is in contradiction with its identity as an “secure” messaging appropriateness – a principle that its founders aimed to maintain.

The co -founders of Whatsapp, Jan Koum and Brian Acton, made their position on advertising very clear. “Do not forget, when advertising is involved you use the user are the product ”, a 2012 The WhatsApp Blog Blot Ticket. So came to keep A note from Acton stuck to his office who said: “No advertisements! No games! No gadgets!” To recall the type of application they should build.

Two years after the acquisition of Meta de Whatsapp, the application went from the invoicing of 99 cents per year to a Completely free model. At the time, Whatsapp said He would always offer an experience “without advertising and third -party spam”.

Behind the scenes, Meta and Mark Zuckerberg, the continuous thrust for targeted advertising led Koum and Acton from business. “Targeted advertising is what makes me unhappy,” said Acton during A 2018 interview with Forbes in which he explained his departure. In the years that followed, Meta has increased announcements in WhatsApp. He Drew the idea on his idea in 2020 But later has raised the possibility In 2023 before riding users now. WhatsApp also deploys the possibility of subscribing to channels and businesses to pay the best places on its “Explorer” page for the channels.

“It’s been thirteen years since our founders wrote on a first version of WhatsApp,” said Whatsapp spokesperson Anik von der Weid The penis. “All this time later, the experience we build does not stop your cats.” Von der Weid adds that the company considers that the updated tab is the “good place” for advertisements and other new Meta features.

The reality is that Meta companies are built on advertising. He couldn’t help but Launch the announcements on the wires Earlier this year, and is AD AI tool launch planning To help companies make more announcements. Meta also brought her chatbot AI to Whatsapp, where users can interact with the bot in group messages, ask questions and generate images. THE The company says He can read messages that “mention @meta ai, or that people choose to share with Meta ai”, raising confidentiality problems that WhatsApp aims to correct With private AI cats.

The launch of targeted advertising only adds to these concerns. “This is another betrayal of privacy protections that once distinguished WhatsApp and attracted many of its users to the platform,” said John Davisson, Director of Disputes to the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), in a press release The penis. “Meta took a service that has promised no announcement and a minimum collection of data and distorted it in a tentacle of more from its surveillance advertising empire.”

Many are not satisfied with the addition of announcements, some users on Reddit saying that they plan to go to Application without signal advertising Due to the change. “Friendly reminder to people. The signal is a higher product designed for good”, ” A written user. Another commentUpvoted more than 3,500 times, said: “The moral of history: never trust the Zucck. Meta / Facebook has never added advertising to WhatsApp when they acquired the application for $ 19 billion.” There is still Some users Indifferent to change because it affects a tab that they use less frequently.

“The online advertising ecosystem has been shown over and over The penis. “Although this is not a surprising decision for Meta, it puts the 3 billion WhatsApp users at unnecessary risks, all for a monetization strategy that no one asked and no one wanted.”

Update, June 17: Addition of a WhatsApp instruction.