We’d previously heard about the possibility of WhatsApp serving ads, back when the founders quit the company over disagreements with Mark Zuckerberg.
Now, it looks like that omen has come to pass, and we’re about to see pesky ads clouding our favourite messenger.
At Facebook’s annual Facebook Marketing Summit in the Netherlands this week, executives made the announcement that WhatsApp will start showing ads beginning in 2020. These will appear as part of the ‘Status’ tab within the app, as shown by a photograph of slides taken by an attendee.
Just like with Instagram’s Stories, WhatsApp Statuses occupy the entire screen, but only once you click on the thumbnail. Just like the feature’s current implementation, the ads will allow companies to “share text, photos, videos and animated GIFs that disappear after 24 hours”.
The only difference is that, instead of the name of a contact that uploads a status, you’ll instead see the company’s name that’s providing the advertisement.
At the very least, these seem to be the sort of ads you can just avoid if you feel like it. You’re not forced to click on them and they don’t open automatically. However, it may still create a negative outcry among users.
For one, most people will just be averse to an app they’ve been using for years suddenly showing ads. For another, it’s still unclear whether these apps will be targeted or not. After all, you’re not likely to have a company’s contact saved in your phone.
Which means they’re either going to be paying for blanket advertising and have their status show up to everyone, or Facebook will be using its data scraping methods to allow them to target specific users based on their age, likes, or online spending etc.
And if that’s the case, it’s not going to help Facebook’s image of anti-privacy.