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The causes of the alleged decision to abandon WhatsApp ads are uncertain. According to the publication, the team of professionals working on the project was shut down and the code that was already developed and partially implemented in the Android and iPhone (iOS) application would have been removed. The social network did not comment on the case.
WhatsApp Status no more ads, says newspaper Foto: Rodrigo Fernandes / dnetc
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It has been speculated about the use of advertising on WhatsApp since the acquisition by Facebook, in 2014, for $ 22 billion. At the time, the messenger stopped charging a fee of US $ 0.99 annually and became completely free. However, the possibility of having ads in the app has always been on the table, given that this type of monetization currently accounts for 98% of Facebook's earnings.
Also owned by Facebook, Instagram has been advertising in Stories since 2017, a tool similar to the ephemeral posts of WhatsApp Status. A Facebook executive even said in the past that advertisements were the company's primary form of monetization, which could make the use of the same strategy in messenger inevitable.
The first information about advertising on WhatsApp appeared in 2018 and, soon, several details were leaked on the web. Last year, the company finally detailed how its digital marketing machine would be introduced in the messenger.
The initiative would have been the trigger for the departure of Jan Koum and Brian Acton, founders of WhatsApp who continued to lead the team behind the application even after the acquisition. According to international media coverage, executives confronted Zuckerberg after he began considering the use of advertising in the most downloaded messenger on the planet.
Sources heard by Wall Street Journal they say that Facebook will focus on the relationship between users and companies, possibly through the WhatsApp Business platform. The information could be linked to old rumors about the expansion of a means of payment in the mobile application, something that had been postponed after a disagreement between the companies of the Libra virtual currency project, of which Facebook is part.
Via The Wall Street Journal
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