The end of an ad-free WhatsApp.

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.

  • Wispy2891@lemmy.worldEnglish
    6·
    3 hours ago

    the channels you follow

    I knew they would use that info for targeted advertising

    It’s Facebook 101, let the users themselves tell you what they like

  • FuryMaker@lemmy.worldEnglish
    6·
    4 hours ago

    People are going to use whatever the majority use.

    I need to ude WhatsApp when i travel to countries egere it’s widely adopted. Just like I need tocuse Facebook if I want to partake in group chats with friends.

    They’re just too big. How is anything else supposed to take off? Just gradually maybe.

    So maybe Signal will get there in a few years? What’s itd adoption rate since it was created?

    • IndustryStandard@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3·
      4 hours ago

      Gradually is the answer. You can dual use both Signal and Whatsapp. Same how you can use Lemmy and Facebook and are not limited to one sociale media app.

  • nothrone@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    131·
    6 hours ago

    WhatsApp getting ads is great news! WhatsApp, and any other meta/facebook/for-profit-social-network will never be a good product. Therefore, the second best alternative is for it to be as bad as possible, so people finally change to worthy alternatives.

    What is the alternative here? Don’t know, perhaps Signal, though the devs are not welcoming at all. The UI is absolute shit. Looks like UI for old people, huge margins and empty space. My screen fits like 3 chats. A compact theme would take a few hours to create and vastly improve the product, but ya…

    • Ceruleum@lemmy.wtfEnglish
      5·
      4 hours ago

      Signal? Dude, I don’t want nonstop getting updates about the war plans of the Trump administration ;-)

    • Jack_Burton@lemmy.caEnglish
      51·
      4 hours ago

      My Signal screen fits 8 chats, and looks simliar to any other messenger I’ve used. It’s a messenger app and the UI shows messages. I wouldn’t want it to show anything else.

  • Auth@lemmy.worldEnglish
    41·
    10 hours ago

    • provide free app at a loss

    • grow massive user base and market share

    • squeeze your userbase for every cent they’re worth

    Every single time. We got to solve the funding issue some how, I dont want to live in a future run by ads.

    • Susurrus@lemm.eeEnglish
      5·
      6 hours ago

      It’s not very easy to solve the issue of infinite growth in a world with finite resources. The fundamental issue is that it’s just not physically possible, but they keep trying. Either we continue this cycle and eventually destroy the planet irreversibly, or we acknowledge that maybe money isn’t everything, and that maybe [the vast majority of] people aren’t inherently egoitistical monsters, and we move on to different systems.

    • bonjour@mander.xyzEnglish
      91·
      9 hours ago

      WhatsApp was not free and already had a massive user base before Facebook bought it.

      Hope this will turn people to alternatives.

    • hansolo@lemmy.todayEnglish
      2·
      9 hours ago

      Eastern Europe loves the app Viber that Rakuten bought, which has had ads for years.

      People LOVE a walled garden of their friends are there, too.

      • buttnugget@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        6 hours ago

        I believe it is centralized but it is certainly an alternative to WhatsApp. My understanding is that it’s encrypted and privacy centric.

    • ace_garp@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3·
      7 hours ago

      Yes, encrypted chats packetised over SMTP layer.

      Smooth as silk for a year and a half.

      Send pics, voicemails, files, videos, and video-chat(via Jitsi integration)

      Arcane-chat app does location sharing too.

      • youmaynotknow@lemmy.mlEnglish
        1·
        2 hours ago

        I’ve been off of WhatsApp for about 7 years. My only communication options with everyone else are phone calls or Signal, and for those that will not use at least signal, we’ll, you can always call me.

        I have arcane chat, but only 1 friend of mine from church uses it with me.

  • Ronno@feddit.nlEnglish
    161·
    9 hours ago

    This is such great news! More ammo to use when trying to convince friends and family to move away from WhatsApp

  • Corn@lemmy.mlEnglish
    62·
    7 hours ago

    Do you have WhatsApp?

    No Telegram?

    I dont have that one, none of the clients seem to work on my phone… Wechat?

    Cant verify, SMS doesnt get through. LINE?

    lol I dont have a japanese number. Kakaotalk?

    No… …discord?

    Sure!

    Shit he’s 30 seconds from finding out Im a furry.

    • SheenSquelcher@lemm.eeEnglish
      1·
      43 minutes ago

      I’ve never had this problem. If they don’t want to download Signal and can’t cope with basic SMS then tough luck.

      • Corn@lemmy.mlEnglish
        1·
        22 minutes ago

        SMS has issues if youre traveling a lot or want to send large files. Nobody has Signal and Im not going to ask someone I just met to install a new app.

      • Corn@lemmy.mlEnglish
        1·
        2 hours ago

        When I tried to move my family to Telegram, only 2 managed to successfully install and verify a client.

  • Redex@lemmy.worldEnglish
    11·
    5 hours ago

    I see a lot of people saying it’s time to switch to Signal, and I mean I agree in principle, it’s my main messaging app, but I don’t see how it can scale. It runs off of donations and the only reason it’s still functioning is because the users that are there are above averagely passionate about it and willing to donate. If it became the defacto messaging app I fear that there is no way they would be capable of financing that level of traffic.

      • Redex@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        4 minutes ago

        I mean, there are some who will be willing to do that, but the vast majority of average people won’t pay for something if a free version exists (like WhatsApp)

        Edit: Ok I just Googled it and apparently their operational costs are less than 1$ per user per year which is far less than I expected. That’s way more sustainable in that case, possibly even through just donations.

  • Mark@lemmy.worldEnglish
    96·
    18 hours ago

    “We will never show you ads in WhatsApp. We promise”. --Facebook when they bought WhatsApp and promised the previous owner not to force ads in the app…

  • zebidiah@lemmy.caEnglish
    20·
    16 hours ago

    I literally just got my senior citizen dad off Skype and over to WhatsApp like 2 years ago… Ain’t no way I can get him over to signal

  • t_berium@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    8 hours ago

    Looks like I need an alternative. An alternative for which there is still no prospect of enshitification. Which services are neither American, Chinese nor Russian? Anything from Europe?

    • teolan@lemmy.worldEnglish
      5·
      6 hours ago

      Signal is American but run by a non profit so it can’t be sold and is open source under GPL3 without a CLA from what I can see so it’s unlikely they would ever go closed source.

        • teolan@lemmy.worldEnglish
          1·
          3 hours ago

          Signal also has been a leader when it comes to encryption and metadata protection. Their cryptographic protocols are public domain and are the gold standard for private messaging from pretty much every perspective other than decentralisation. (it’s still centralised)