this post was submitted on 16 Jun 2025

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WhatsApp is officially getting ads (www.theverge.com)

submitted 18 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago) by MazonnaCara89@lemmy.ml to c/technology@lemmy.world

131 comments fedilink hide all child comments

WhatsApp is rolling out ads. In an update on Monday, Meta announced that it will now show ads from businesses through its Stories-like status feature.

Meta says it will tailor the ads to your interests by using “limited” information, including your country or city, language, the channels you follow, and how you interact with ads on the platform. You can also change your ad preferences from Meta’s Accounts Center.

This isn’t the only change Meta is making to WhatsApp. The company will also start showing promoted channels when you click on the Explore button to find new ones to follow. It’s also rolling out the ability to subscribe to channels to “receive exclusive updates” as well.

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[–] drmoose@lemmy.world 1 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago)

I wonder whether Meta will try to lock down cross platform access now.

Currently Beeper still works everywhere and EU'S DMA (Digital Markets Act) still has WhatsApp as gate keeper which is required to interpolate with other chat apps. However "WhatsApp stories" are entirely different from chat so that means they can block all of that and this is probably how Meta will approach future WhatsApp updates - more shit to lock people in WhatsApp that isnt directly chat related because thats the only way to show people ads.

[–] pinesolcario@lemy.lol 1 points 5 hours ago

Considering the zero byte article using anything from Meta is a FAFO moment.

[–] noxypaws@pawb.social 28 points 12 hours ago

Facebook shit gonna do facebook shit

[–] cRazi_man@europe.pub 36 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

I'm forced to use WhatsApp chat so I keep it installed begrudgingly. But who the fuck is using WhatsApp stories?

[–] PlutoniumAcid@lemmy.world 19 points 12 hours ago (7 children)

I use Beeper which shows me a unified view of whatsapp and Signal and others. whatsapp itself has zero permissions on my phone. I hate that I need to have it at all but Europe is deep into that. Sigh.

[–] lemmyingly@lemm.ee 9 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

At least normal European people are locked into a platform that doesn't care what device you're using, unlike iMessage - so it's not all bad

[–] dubyakay@lemmy.ca 1 points 7 hours ago (4 children)

I'm an iPhone user and I've never met anyone that gave a shit about iMessage. In the past ten years.

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[–] cRazi_man@europe.pub 20 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

There was a big uproar amongst normies when the WhatsApp TOS changed......but people forget quickly and prefer convenience. That was our one chance to convert everyone over.

[–] KyuubiNoKitsune@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 8 hours ago

I stopped using it for 3 years, then I had to interact with a surgeon through it and reconnected with a fee people who still use it. I fucking hate using it

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[–] Kekzkrieger@feddit.org 71 points 15 hours ago (3 children)

If thats not a reason to switch to Signal what is.

But people just suck it up anyway, they did when reddit gone to shit, they did when Amazon startes showing ads even tho when you were paying, they did when Netflix disallowed sharing and you had to pay extra.

People just suck up whatever is thrown at them and are fucking stupid.

We cant have nice things, because companies will greed and if users dont react and cancel the shit out of them they and others will continue to press more moneyjuice out of people.

[–] PlutoniumAcid@lemmy.world 23 points 12 hours ago

Sheep don't know they are being slaughtered. We're the digital 1% and we can't make the sheep wake up.

[–] dependencyinjection@discuss.tchncs.de 14 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

I don’t use either but my issue with Signal is none of my friends want another application to install and they are happy with WhatApp.

Conversely, I’m happy not having a group chat app and will either text you or iMessage you. Don’t you dare ring me as I ain’t answering.

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[–] zewm@lemmy.world 9 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

I only use WhatsApp for work and none of my coworkers are switching off it. They have too much invested in it. Family specifically.

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[–] NotForYourStereo@lemmy.world 171 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago) (2 children)

*gasp*

Who could have ever seen this move coming? From Facebook, of all companies!

[–] danc4498@lemmy.world 6 points 8 hours ago

As somebody that doesn’t use what’s app, I’m shocked it didn’t have ads already.

[–] toynbee@lemmy.world 28 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

To be fair, I am shocked... Not to see a Pikachu face in the comments.

[–] dalekcaan@lemm.ee 27 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

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[–] ThePowerOfGeek@lemmy.world 118 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

Good news good Signal.

[–] hansolo@lemmy.today 41 points 18 hours ago (8 children)

Only if you donate. Otherwise bad news, Signal.

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[–] SilverShark@lemmy.world 33 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

I wished Whatsapp wasn't a thing so much. There are so many so much better apps. Signal is so much better and it would work fine for the vast majority of people.

[–] Scolding7300@lemmy.world 9 points 14 hours ago (2 children)

Unfortunately "better" varies from person to person. Signal is behind on features, e.g. WhatsApp has integration for businesses (customer support).

I hope my monthly donation will help but we must realize for some some features are important, I guess that for most it's how many ppl they know is there/unwilling to lead a migration

[–] SaharaMaleikuhm@feddit.org -4 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

Nobody in their right mind wants to use Whatsapp for getting support. That is insane. I want to message people and do group chats. That is it. Anything else is bloat.

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[–] TomMasz@piefed.social 22 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

Meta has been running ads claiming no one can read your WhatsApp messages, including them. For some reason, I'm not 100% sure about this. It's hard to imagine they can resist grabbing all that data for their AI somehow.

[–] Hadriscus@jlai.lu 16 points 13 hours ago

Of course they fucking grab it. They have 45 backdoors with golden handles otherwise they're show the fucking source

[–] mintiefresh@piefed.ca 37 points 17 hours ago (4 children)

Hopefully this helps people move off of WhatsApp to Signal or something else.

[–] Ulrich@feddit.org 21 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

Yeah like it moved them off of Xitter, Reddit, Facebook and Instagram.

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[–] Ulrich@feddit.org 18 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

Only shocking part of this is that it took them this long.

[–] skisnow@lemmy.ca 1 points 5 hours ago

Yeah, it was never not going to happen. Shareholders demand unending year-on-year growth at all costs, forever, until everything is shit.

[–] malfisya@piefed.social 22 points 17 hours ago (8 children)

This is one of the train that impossible for me to get off. It is very ubiquitous in my country to use whatsapp instead of text. I must suck it up I guess. 😅

[–] Zak@lemmy.world 23 points 16 hours ago (5 children)

A fair number of my contacts from countries where this is true also have Signal. If you don't, I suggest installing it and seeing how many people are there.

If it's hard to remember who uses what, start conversations from the contacts app instead of one of the messaging apps; in most cases it will tell you.

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[–] rocky1138@sh.itjust.works 5 points 13 hours ago

Be the change

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[–] razorcandy@discuss.tchncs.de 25 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

I’m more surprised it took them this long. Thankfully there are already many decent alternative messaging apps.

[–] mybuttnolie@sopuli.xyz 8 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

but still nobody is going to switch. whenever i try to convince people to switch, they just defend whatsapp and I'm a whiner

[–] herrvogel@lemmy.world 2 points 11 hours ago (2 children)

Or they do switch but for like 1 day and then go back to messaging you on WhatsApp. I tried switching to signal at least a couple times, even convinced a couple groups to move, but not a single chat lasted more than a couple weeks. Eventually they all went back to WhatsApp. Every single one. It's extremely difficult to get people to care.

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[–] FelixCress@lemmy.world 17 points 18 hours ago (3 children)

Time to ditch WhatsApp

[–] merde@sh.itjust.works 28 points 18 hours ago (2 children)

👆 mark that comment. I'm sure you'll write that again in a year or so

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[–] myrmidex@lemmy.nogods.be 16 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago) (1 children)

The best time to quit was 10 years ago. The second-best time is now.

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