WhatsApp is currently free from ads, but that won’t always be the case – and when they arrive, they could be targeted using your Facebook data.
There have been rumblings about ads in WhatsApp for months, with a 2020 launch pencilled into the calendar. The plan initially involved working ads into users’ conversations, but earlier this year the Wall Street Journal reported that the team assigned this (potentially very unpopular) task had been disbanded, and their work removed from the app’s code.
That wasn’t the end of the story though, and Facebook said it was still considering adding ads to WhatsApp’s Status feature (its equivalent of Stories, which lets you share messages that are only visible for a short period of time).
Instagram (also owned by Facebook) already includes this type of advertising, with full-page ads that take up your whole screen for a brief period.
This time, it’s personal
Things went quiet on the advertising front after January, but according to a new report in The Information, Facebook hasn’t abandoned its plans to sell ads in WhatsApp, and is planning to personalize them using your Facebook data.
In January 2019, Facebook announced that it would be integrating Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram, rebuilding the apps “at their most basic levels” so they all work in fundamentally the same way.
That would also require all three apps to use end-to-end encryption – a feature that’s currently offered by WhatsApp, but not Instagram or Messenger.
The company made it clear that it wasn’t planning to merge the three services into one giant unified app, but according to The Information’s report, it’s instead planning to use phone numbers to match up your various accounts and create a single pool of data to show you targeted ads on all services.
It won”t be happening just yet, though; Facebook has confirmed to Engadget that advertising within WhatsApp statuses is “a long-term opportunity”, with no potential dates suggested. Facebook had planned to finish merging the three messaging apps this year, but the coronavirus pandemic might push that date back a long way.
We’ve contacted Facebook for comment, and will update this article when we receive a response.
