WhatsApp to show ads from now on
Users will be able to click on the ads, which take up the whole screen, and will be redirected to the advertisers website
WhatsApp will start showing ads in the "status" update section of the app despite heavy criticism and pleas to not implement the initiative.
Facebook, the parent company of the messaging app recently launched a demo showing how the outlook would be at the annual Facebook Marketing Summit in Rotterdam, Netherlands, reports The Sun UK.
It's not known what kind of data will be used to target ads at the app's users, but critics have suggested that their introduction could undermine the privacy and security enjoyed by WhatsApp users.
Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel
Apparently the ads will appear between WhatsApp stories just like they do on Instagram.
Users will be able to click on the ads, which take up the whole screen, and will be redirected to the advertisers website.
WhatsApp added its Status feature last year, allowing users to create temporary posts as a way of sharing the latest goings-on in their lives with their contacts.
Soon after this it was announced that plans for WhatsApp adverts had been made.
The controversy surrounding this update is so widespread because WhatsApp had originally built its brand on providing users with an ad-free space.
"No ads. No games. No gimmicks," declared an unofficial slogan for the company, which one early investor said was built on a "commitment to stay focused on building a pure messaging experience". Rasmus Hoist, the chief revenue officer at rival messaging platform Wire, previously told The Sun, "Allowing adverts to creep into users" messages not only undermines their privacy, but also jeopardises their sensitive information and data, meaning that every word someone communicates through the application is used as ammunition for the data harvesting machine used by adtech firms.
"It also means that the application is not truly end-to-end encrypted because this data is left at the mercy of the tech barons using customer information for profit."
So far Facebook has only suggested that the advertisements will be powered by Facebook's native advertising system.
The firms intentions to make money from WhatsApp forced it's co-founders to leave the company once Facebook had bought it from them.
Brian Acton, one of WhatsApp's co-founders, said he had to leave because Mark Zuckerberg's rush to make money from the app was making him "unhappy".
