In what could be great news for WhatsApp users around the globe, Facebook seems to be dropping the plans of showing ads inside WhatsApp. Last year, Facebook confirmed that it would be pushing advertisements between WhatsApp Statues similar to Instagram Stories. Facebook's decision to display ads in WhatsApp made the instant messaging platform's founders leave the platform. Brian Acton and Jan Koum decided to leave the company after Facebook's decision to monetise WhatsApp. A new report says that the Mark Zuckerberg-led company may not sell ads on WhatsApp as the team which was formed to work on this project has been disbanded in recent months.
Ads Not Coming to WhatsApp Anytime Soon
A report from The Wall Street Journal says Facebook has disbanded the team which was formed to work on implementing ads inside WhatsApp. "The team's work was then deleted from WhatsApp's code," the report added, according to IANS. However, Facebook is yet to confirm this news officially. If the report is believed to be true, then it will be great news for all the WhatsApp users.
The biggest change WhatsApp expected to receive in 2020 is the advertisements. Facebook said that it would start showing ads between WhatsApp Statuses in 2020. This feature will work pretty much similar to Instagram Stories which also displays ads in between stories. Even Facebook displays ads in between the stories of users. So WhatsApp was all set to become a third Facebook entity to be monetised.
Right now, WhatsApp has over 1.5 billion users across the globe, and in India alone, the messaging app has over 400 million users. This data was of July 2019, so the number must have increased by at least 50%. WhatsApp may report an active monthly user base of 500 million in India in the coming weeks and the global user base may cross two billion. Facebook would've generated a lot of revenue from WhatsApp, thanks to its massive user base globally.
Facebook Seems to Be Against Monetising WhatsApp
Ever since Facebook bought WhatsApp back in 2014, the social network giant has the plans to monetise the platform. WhatsApp implemented end-to-end encryption in 2016 and the company's founders Brian Acton and Jan Koum were always against placing ads in WhatsApp. But Facebook's management started working on adding ads to WhatsApp, which the founders did not like. According to WhatsApp founders, adding advertisements inside the app will break end-to-end encryption.
After a lot of arguments, Brian Acton left in the company in 2017, followed by CEO Jan Koum in August last year. To recall, Facebook bought WhatsApp for a whopping $22 billion deal back in 2014. "Targeted advertising is what makes me unhappy, Acton said after quitting from Facebook.
We are not sure at the moment on what Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg are up to right now. Maybe, Facebook's team found out that implementing ads inside WhatsApp Status tab will break the end-to-end encryption. But again, nothing is confirmed officially at the moment.
Despite confirming the placement of ads inside WhatsApp, Mark Zuckerberg always reiterated that the company would not break end-to-end encryption. So maybe, ads in WhatsApp could break the encryption and the company seems to be going against the plan.
