Today, Meta has announced that it is bringing advertisements in WhatsApp. They will appear in the update tab, which is home to both channels and status. Meta says that the update tab is now used globally by 1.5 billion people per day.
There will be advertisements in the situation, which will “let you find a new business and easily start interacting with them about a product or service that they are promoting in the situation”. It will also have promoted channels, which are also advertisements. These “will help you search for new channels that can be interesting for you when you are looking through the directory”, says Meta.
Nearby, channel membership will allow you to pay monthly fees to get special updates from channels. It is not related to advertisement, but today there is also a new feature. Meta feels that advertising and membership in the update tab will “far away from your personal chat”, ensure that “there is no change in your experience” if you only use WhatsApp to chat with friends and loved ones.
Your personal messages, calls and status end-to-end remain encrypted. To show advertisement in the situation and promoted channels, WhatsApp will use information about your city or country, language, channels you follow and how you interact with advertisements you have seen. If you have added WhatsApp to the Meta Accounts Center, information will also be used from your advertising preferences and your meta accounts.
Meta has promised to share its phone number at any time with advertisers, and that your personal messages, calls, and groups you make will not be used to determine advertisements that you can see. All these features are going to roll “slowly in the next several months”.
