this post was submitted on 16 Jun 2025
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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.

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[–] 0485919158191@lemmy.world 5 points 48 minutes ago

You mean WhatsCrap?

[–] umbrella@lemmy.ml 1 points 8 minutes ago

i use none of these features.

i'm glad they are not as invasive as i tought, but they will definetly be making them worse over time.

[–] qyron@sopuli.xyz 5 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

Never used it for personal ends. But I'm curious to see if all the companies using as a work tool will divert from it.

Signal.

And IF I learn how to run Jammi, it will be my default communication application.

[–] Im_old@lemmy.world 1 points 46 minutes ago

I think you mean Jami (single m).

It's a nice concept but I'll try to get my xmmp server nice and secured.

[–] sunglocto@lemmy.dbzer0.com 27 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

LET THE ENSHITTIFICATION BEGIN!

[–] diffusive@lemmy.world 12 points 1 hour ago

Begin? 🤔🤔🤔

What year is this?

[–] Wispy2891@lemmy.world 12 points 4 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

[–] altphoto 19 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

Repeat after me.... "Enshitification"!

[–] Smoogs@lemmy.world 6 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

Is it really enshitification if it was shit to begin with?

[–] haych@feddit.uk 5 points 4 hours ago

Years ago before Meta bought it, it was good. So I think it kind of counts.

[–] FuryMaker@lemmy.world 9 points 6 hours ago (3 children)

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?

[–] Schlemmy@lemmy.ml 1 points 37 minutes ago

That's the main reason Signal uses phone numbers for verification.

That way you can see which of your contact can be reached on their platform.

I slowly diverted from WhatsApp to Signal in that way. I also have it in my WhatsApp bio: ''You can reach me on Signal. Come on over, it'll be fun''

[–] camelbeard@lemmy.world 1 points 40 minutes ago

Family chatgroup, signal Work chatgroup, signal Half of my friends, signal

Won't be very long until I remove whatsapp from my phone. That one friend that doesn't want to switch, call me I guess..

[–] IndustryStandard@lemmy.world 7 points 5 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.com 14 points 7 hours ago (2 children)

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..

[–] Jack_Burton@lemmy.ca 6 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 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.

[–] Ceruleum@lemmy.wtf 8 points 5 hours ago

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

[–] Auth@lemmy.world 49 points 11 hours ago (9 children)
  • 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.

[–] hiramfromthechi@lemmy.world 2 points 42 minutes ago

WhatsApp was charging $1-$3 per year before Facebook's acquisition. They had 600M+ users and a team of twelve people. It was beautiful while it lasted.

Hopefully we can carry out the original mission with Signal.

[–] Susurrus@lemm.ee 8 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 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.

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