Meta introduces advertising to WhatsApp in push for new revenues – The Irish Times

WhatsApp is to introduce paid advertising into its app for the first time, Meta has confirmed, in a new departure for the app. But advertising will not appear in private chats, which remain end to end encrypted. Instead Meta is putting the ads into its content discovery Updates tab, where WhatsApp’s Channels and Status features are located. According to Meta, the Updates tab is used by 1.5 billion people a day Business can pay to appear prominently in the Status section, making their brands more visible to consumers. The company will also enable channel owners to charge for exclusive content within WhatsApp. Promoted channels are also coming to WhatsApp, giving channel owners the option to grow their presence on the app. The move will provide Meta with a new revenue source from the popular instant messaging app. “We’ve been talking about our plans to build a business that does not interrupt your personal chats for years and we believe the Updates tab is the right place for these new features to work,” the company said in a blog post announcing the new features. However, Meta emphasised that it will use only limited information about users to serve the ads, and
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