Overview

• WhatsApp began rolling out ads on June 16 in its Updates tab, which features status updates and channels separated from personal chats.
• Ads will rely on limited data such as country, language and activity in the Updates tab and will be clearly labeled to distinguish them from user posts.
• Users who link WhatsApp with other Meta accounts may have their ad preferences and information shared across platforms, while messages and calls remain end-to-end encrypted and excluded from targeting.
• Channel owners can now offer paid subscriptions for exclusive content, with Meta initially waiving commissions but planning a 10% fee on future subscription sales.
• Privacy experts, including Max Schrems’s noyb, have flagged that combining data across Meta services for ad targeting could breach stringent European data-protection regulations.