Your WhatsApp Status view is about to get ads
Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
TL;DR WhatsApp is testing ads in the Status section of the Updates tab.
New paid subscriptions and promoted Channels are also rolling out.
Private messages remain untouched and end-to-end encrypted.
Ads have crept into every corner of Meta's ecosystem. Facebook, Instagram, and Reels are filled with them. For years, WhatsApp stood apart as the company's only major platform without advertising. Now, that's changing: ads are coming to WhatsApp, too.
Meta revealed in a new announcement that WhatsApp is testing ads in the Status row at the top of the Updates tab. This is the first time we've seen advertising in WhatsApp since Facebook acquired the popular messaging app in 2014. But don't worry, Meta insists your private messages remain end-to-end encrypted and are still off limits for advertising. The new ad placements are limited to Status updates, not your personal chats.
Meta confirmed three new features: ads in Status, paid channel subscriptions, and promoted channels. WhatsApp is clearly following a familiar playbook, because it sounds a lot like what we already see in Telegram and Instagram. Ads in Status look the same as Instagram Stories. These are full-screen visuals from brands, with the option to message them directly. You'll still be able to tap through Status posts as usual, but not before they try to sell you something.
Channels are getting a monetization boost. Creators can now offer subscriptions, so followers pay for exclusive content. There are still no details on payment methods, but it will most likely use Meta Pay. The new Promoted Channels section will help creators get discovered by showing potential channel subscriptions of interest.
Meta insists your private messages remain end-to-end encrypted and are still off limits for advertising.
For now, the changes are confined to the Updates tab. But if you're used to a completely ad-free experience with the world's most popular messaging app, it may start feeling a little like the rest of Meta's apps, and soon.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Forbes
33 minutes ago
- Forbes
Microsoft, Google And Facebook Warnings—Stop Using Your Passwords
The password era is over. There's nothing like a little controversy to spice up a week in cyber. The latest being whether a 'record-breaking' 16 billion password breach is really a new breach. Some say it is, others that it's not — the reality is that it doesn't actually matter. What is uncontested is that there are a staggering number of stolen passwords and login IDs available for sale online. Whether 'breaches' are new or amalgamations of what's already there does not change the threat — albeit new breaches count double. Cybernews says its team 'has been closely monitoring the web since the beginning of the year,' and has 'discovered 30 exposed datasets containing from tens of millions to over 3.5 billion records each. They say, this totals 'an unimaginable 16 billion records." Bleeping Computer, meanwhile, counters 'this is not a new data breach, or a breach at all, and the websites involved were not recently compromised to steal these credentials." Password account access is not secure — and so this is all fairly academic. The real story is that 'the password era is ending,' as Microsoft puts it. Microsoft and Google have warned users for some time now to ditch passwords for passkeys. Even if two-factor authentication is enabled, which is astonishingly less than half the time, accounts can be hijacked through technical hacks or social engineering. The answer, both say, is passkeys — linking account security to device security. Enable Google passkeys here. Enable Microsoft passkeys here. Find out about Facebook passkeys here. This week Facebook has finally joined the passkey club, announcing that this is coming soon to both iOS and Android. It's not before time. Facebook perhaps more than any other major platform has suffered from account hacks and hijacks. Microsoft warns that bad actors know passwords are being replaced, "which is why they're desperately accelerating password-related attacks while they still can. While Google says 'we want to move beyond passwords altogether… so we strongly encourage using modern methods like Sign in with Google and passkeys.' Facebook, meanwhile, tells users 'passkeys can give you peace of mind about your account's security – they can't be guessed or easily stolen.' Which means safer accounts. Apple exists within its own walled garden, and so its trusted device ecosystem is the same as a passkey, linking your accounts to the devices it knows you have authenticated on. Now with those other three onboard, billions of users don't need to read data breach headlines with ever bigger numbers and worry for their own accounts. You should start with these major platforms and enable passkeys on all. Do the same for any other critical or sensitive platform you use, Amazon for example. Ask yourself what would happen if someone got access to the account. If the answer is worrying, change it. This means looking into sensitive apps such as financial or health, and enabling passkeys or the strongest form of 2FA available. Avoid SMS if you can. If you make these changes now, when the next multi-billion-record breach news breaks, you will know your key accounts are safe. As long as you don't leave passwords and simple 2FA enabled on the account. This also means you will be able to tell fraudulent sign-in pages from real ones, as fake once cannot retrieve your passkeys.
The Verge
37 minutes ago
- The Verge
Tesla's first robotaxi rides will have a ‘safety monitor' in the passenger seat
Tesla has begun sending out invitations for its highly anticipated robotaxi service, but there's one significant caveat: it's installing a 'safety monitor' in the front passenger seat, as previously reported by Electrek. The invites, which were sent to Tesla influencers and investors, say the human monitor will 'accompany you on your trip' when rides begin on June 22nd — a move that's at odds with Elon Musk's promise of fully unsupervised rides. Details about Tesla's robotaxi service have been slim in the weeks leading up to its launch, but Musk said in January that the company would launch its 'unsupervised' robotaxi service with 'no one in the car' this summer. Musk expanded on this in an April earnings call, saying the 10 to 20 Model Y vehicles would be remotely operated in the event of an emergency. Tesla's invitation outlines some requirements for robotaxi rides, including that riders must request service between 6AM and 12AM within a geofenced area, 'excluding airports.' It adds that 'service may be limited or unavailable in inclement weather,' which is often a challenge for autonomous vehicles. Invitees can bring one additional guest 18 or older. Over the past couple of months, Tesla has faced pressure from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which has asked the EV-maker for more information about 'the ability of Tesla's system to react appropriately to reduced roadway visibility conditions.' Texas lawmakers have requested that Tesla delay its robotaxi launch until a revision to the state's autonomous driving law takes effect in September. It will require robotaxi services to get authorization from the Department of Motor Vehicles before operating without a human driver.
Wall Street Journal
37 minutes ago
- Wall Street Journal
Fed's Waller Suggests Support for a July Cut
Federal Reserve governor Christopher Waller said the central bank could be positioned to cut interest rates at its next meeting in July, notwithstanding potential inflation pressures caused by new tariffs. In a Friday morning interview with CNBC, Waller said the Fed should 'look through' one-time price increases from tariffs and instead respond to the underlying trend in inflation, which has been cooling.
