WhatsApp is about to start showing you ads – and people are threatening to delete their accounts
WHATSAPP has confirmed it will begin showing adverts to its 1.5billion users – and fans are not happy.
Ads will start popping up in "Status", WhatsApp's version of Instagram or Snapchat Stories, later this year.
The Facebook-owned company has yet to reveal a precise launch date but vice president Chris Daniels confirmed the plans last year.
"We are going to be putting ads in 'Status'," Daniels told reporters in November.
"That is going to be primary monetisation mode for the company as well as an opportunity for businesses to reach people on WhatsApp."
Notorious tech leaker Matt Navarra broke news of the feature last May.
He posted photos of the ads, shown during a slideshow at a conference in Germany, on Twitter. One slide suggested ads were coming in 2020.
Navarra's tweet drew a fiery response from WhatsApp fans.
"Nice. I’m sure half the users will switch over to Telegram," one person tweeted.
Another Twitter user added: "Alright, well, goodbye WhatsApp.
"Why the heck does Facebook think this is a good idea? People use WhatsApp for professional contacts and Facebook for pleasure. ‘I don’t want ads. I’d rather pay $50 a year to use it ad-free, same as always. Idiots."
Facebook bought WhatsApp for £17billion in 2014. It has since been on a mission to monetise the hugely popular service.
The decision to flood the app with adverts was reportedly behind a dramatic split between Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg and the app's founders, Brian Acton and Jan Koum.
WhatsApp – a quick history
Here's what you need to know...
- WhatsApp was created in 2009 by computer programmers Brian Acton and Jan Koum - former employees of Yahoo
- It's one of the most popular messaging services in the world
- Koum came up with the name WhatsApp because it sounded like "what's up"
- After a number of tweaks the app was released with a messaging component in June 2009, with 250,000 active users
- It was originally free but switched to a paid service to avoid growing too fast
- Facebook bought WhatsApp Inc in February 2014 for $19.3billion (£14.64bn)
- The app is particularly popular because all messages are encrypted during transit, shutting out snoopers
- As of February 2017, WhatsApp has over 1.2 billion users globally
The pair, who founded WhatsApp in 2009, had previously promised to never show adverts in the app.
Brian, 47, and Jan, 43, left the company in 2017 and 2018 respectively. Brian has since brutally condemned the way Facebook operates.
In an interview with Forbes last year, he said: "Targeted advertising is what makes me unhappy."
Brian added that Facebook "represents a set of business practices, principles and ethics, and policies that I don’t necessarily agree with.
"At the end of the day, I sold my company," he went on.
"I sold my users’ privacy to a larger benefit."
TOP STORIES IN TECH
In other news, we recently summed up the WhatsApp features coming to your phone in 2020.
Find out how to read deleted WhatsApp messages on your phone.
And if that's not enough, here are 16 fun WhatsApp tips that will change the way you use the app forever.
What new features would you like to see added to WhatsApp? Let us know in the comments!
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online Tech & Science team? Email us at [email protected]