Kathmandu. Meta has finally announced that users have been scared for the past decade. That’s advertising on WhatsApp.
Meta (then Facebook) bought WhatsApp for $19 billion in 2014. At that time, it was expected that ads would now appear on WhatsApp. However, the company took about 11 years to roll out this update.
Meta has officially announced that ads will now appear on WhatsApp. Users will see the ads in the Status tab. In the last two years, the company has completely changed its update tab, which used to show status earlier.
Users will be able to subscribe to WhatsApp channels of their choice at a monthly fee. After that, users will be able to get exclusive updates and cantent from that channel. Currently, channels can be subscribed for free. After this phase of WhatsApp, content creators will get a way to earn.
Content creators can also promote their channels. Users can find new channels through recommendations. Channel administrators will have another way to expand their reach and visibility.
Apart from these two, users will be able to see ads in the Update tab. Users can send messages directly to businesses by clicking on these ads and learn about their products or services.
Meta said the ads will only appear in status. They will not be linked to personal chats.
WhatsApp said that these updates have been released keeping in mind the privacy of the users. WhatsApp users’ messages, chats, calls, group chats will still remain end-to-end encrypted. Ads will only be targeted using limited data. This means they will use less data.
If users have linked their WhatsApp account to the Meta Account Center, the ad preferences and information will also be shared with other meta apps. The user’s phone number will not be shared with the advertiser. Also, no ads will appear in private chats.
Meta will roll out these features globally. These features will be available for both iOS and Android platforms. Although the exact date of their launch has not been announced, they will be released in the next few months.
