Overview

• WhatsApp has started a gradual rollout of advertisements and paid subscription options in its "Aktuelles" (Status) tab.
• Ads will be personalized using user data such as location settings, language preferences and cross-app behavior from connected Meta services.
• Content creators and businesses can offer paid channel subscriptions and promote their channels within the Status tab to monetize exclusive updates.
• Meta assures that end-to-end encryption for private chats, calls and status messages remains unchanged by the new monetization features.
• Privacy advocates including Max Schrems warn that personalized advertising could conflict with European data protection laws.