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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[–] matlag@sh.itjust.works 2 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

It's not just the funding, it's the business overall. Public companies need to show growing revenues year to year, and worse: growing revenues with a minimum yield. A product can grow by attracting more users up to a certain point. Then the only way to grow is by making more money out of the same users base. If the revenue is based on ads:

  • Extend the product so that the user's engagement increases (channels/others kind).
  • Add paying features (freemium approach, that includes blue stars or whatever the hell you want it to look like…)
  • Serve them ads

Freemium is not always working well and Meta never used it. They have no new great idea to extend the product without eating their other products users bases. So the only one left is more ads.

Funding is not the issue, for-profit companies are. Non-profit is the way to go. Federation is even better as individuals/families/small organizations can run their own servers.-

[–] Auth@lemmy.world 1 points 10 hours ago

I dont think its for profit being the issue. Companies making a profit is fine. Its publicly traded companies giving bad incentives.