WhatsApp introduces advertising: What users need to know now!

WhatsApp introduces advertising: What users need to know now!

WhatsApp is facing a major upheaval: The popular messenger service, which over three billion people use every month, is planning to introduce advertising. While private chats remain ad-free, the new advertising format will be placed in the “News” section. There, users can publish pictures and videos as status reports for 24 hours. Parent company Meta has now officially confirmed that advertising will be integrated into this section, which is what users can expect worldwide in the coming months nau.ch reported.

The ability to advertise has been delayed by legal hurdles and privacy concerns. While Meta continues to stick to its plans, the critics are already in the starting blocks. Consumer advocates, such as Max Schrems from the organization None Of Your Business (NOYB), have already threatened legal action against the company, in particular against the linking of data from WhatsApp with other services such as Facebook and Instagram without users having given their consent. These concerns are particularly relevant as data protection has become increasingly central to public discussion in recent years.

Advertising and data protection

Advertising in WhatsApp will not be highly personalized, but will be based on data such as phone number, country and display name. However, those who link their WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram accounts can expect personalized ads, while others will see more generic ads. Despite these adjustments, end-to-end encryption remains in place for personal conversations and calls, which should provide users with a certain level of security. Loud ZDF WhatsApp uses AI to analyze data, but without the knowledge of the chat partners, which is an additional reason for concern for many users.

Meta significantly changed the balance of power in the messaging sector with its acquisition of WhatsApp in 2014 for around $22 billion. Before this acquisition, WhatsApp had promised to remain ad-free, which has shaped user expectations over the years. The company now faces the challenge of shaping this change responsibly and not endangering the trust of its users.

The market development

Currently, 1.5 billion people use the “What’s New” section of WhatsApp every day. This shows that there is potential to make money with the new advertising options, after all Meta has so far only achieved lower sales with WhatsApp compared to other social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. The announcement of the introduction of advertising has already caused a 2.5 percent increase in Meta shares on Wall Street, which underlines the economic relevance of the decision.

The world is now eagerly waiting to see the development of advertising in WhatsApp. While some users are skeptical about the new features, others may be willing to accept advertising on the platform as long as privacy is maintained. But it remains to be seen how the race for users and their trust will continue. Communication behavior could change significantly in the coming months, and the answer to the question of whether this decision enriches or detracts from the user experience will soon be discussed in the chats.