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WhatsApp is officially getting ads
(www.theverge.com)
LET THE ENSHITTIFICATION BEGIN!
Doctorow is always right.
the channels you follow
I knew they would use that info for targeted advertising
It's Facebook 101, let the users themselves tell you what they like
Do you have WhatsApp?
No Telegram?
I dont have that one, none of the clients seem to work on my phone... Wechat?
Cant verify, SMS doesnt get through. LINE?
lol I dont have a japanese number. Kakaotalk?
No... ...discord?
Sure!
Shit he's 30 seconds from finding out Im a furry.
none of the clients seem to work on my phone
Hm, first time I hear that one to be honest.
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The problem is there are very few alternatives that will work for grandma and her friends, especially open source alternatives. This is why WhatsApp and LINE are stupidly popular.
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I wonder whether Meta will try to lock down cross platform access now.
Currently Beeper still works everywhere and EU'S DMA (Digital Markets Act) still has WhatsApp as gate keeper which is required to interpolate with other chat apps. However "WhatsApp stories" are entirely different from chat so that means they can block all of that and this is probably how Meta will approach future WhatsApp updates - more shit to lock people in WhatsApp that isnt directly chat related because thats the only way to show people ads.
Always a bit shocked to learn people still use WhatsApp.
It's really big in Europe for some reason.
Because SMS is trash, most of Europe doesn't use iPhones and WhatsApp was one of the first messaging apps, so yeah.
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All our clients use it. It's bloody annoying. I have dozens who use WhatsApp, and like three who use Signal. Ironically, the three that use Signal also use WhatsApp and guess which one they use to contact us?
It's a problem when it's got mass market traction to get people to switch. I'm still trying to get off Messenger but some people insist on it... Going to have to get firm about that.
Some of us don’t have another choice. All (but 1) of my support groups are on WhatsApp and only 1 is on signal.
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I’m more surprised it took them this long. Thankfully there are already many decent alternative messaging apps.
but still nobody is going to switch. whenever i try to convince people to switch, they just defend whatsapp and I'm a whiner
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These ads on messaging services are out of control
so...... back to owl mail then?
this post was submitted on 16 Jun 2025
270 points (98.9% liked)
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