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WhatsApp introduces ads in its app

(www.nytimes.com)
713 points greenburger | 1 comments | 16 Jun 25 13:38 UTC | HN request time: 0.269s | source
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leokennis ◴[16 Jun 25 14:05 UTC] No.44289612[source]▶
At least in The Netherlands, WhatsApp could show a 60 second unskippable modal ad video on every launch, and still get away with it due to network effects.

If you’re not on WhatsApp, no updates or news from your kids school, your sports team, your family, your car dealership etc. for you.

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1. udev4096 ◴[17 Jun 25 04:04 UTC] No.44295658[source]▶
WhatsApp has been selling your metadata to facebook for quite a while now. Their marketing gimmick of "end-to-end encryption" makes everyone think it's safe and private but here's the thing, your messages don't matter to them. It's the metadata they use to profile you. Remember the quote from Michael Hayden: "We kill people based on metadata."