Facebook about to make sweeping changes to WhatsApp

Planning to bring adds to the platform and bypass encryption to improve add targets

Life

Image: WhatsApp

22 October 2018

For the many of the users of WhatsApp, its key attractions are that it is free, it is private, it is easy to use, and it just works.

So, whenever plans for change are mooted, there is usually a degree of scepticism. Facebook has some big changes planned and many feel the writing is on the wall for the platform in its current form — it costs nothing to use it and half the world does.

In an attempt to keep WhatsApp as a free service, Facebook will be bringing ads to the service, and there is a rumour that it will bypass the app’s end-to-end encryption to more effectively target those ads.

Facebook bought WhatsApp a few years ago and has not done a whole lot with it since. But a free service with a massive user base is a huge untapped revenue source – of that there is little doubt. The old annual subscription for a tiny amount was removed, and we have all been merrily using it ever since.

Expect to start seeing ads in the status feature of the app in 2019.

IDG News Service