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WhatsApp introduces ads in its app

(www.nytimes.com)
713 points greenburger | 2 comments | 16 Jun 25 13:38 UTC | HN request time: 0.604s | source
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yakkomajuri ◴[17 Jun 25 12:56 UTC] No.44298568[source]▶
I guess this was expected, but it makes me feel really powerless in the sense that I can't really move away from WhatsApp.

I have a couple of friends that I message via Signal and even convinced my dad to use it a while back, but here in Brazil WhatsApp is _everything_, and I doubt most people care about this at all. In my case, I'd love to just go over to Signal fully but then I couldn't talk to family, friends, and probably couldn't even book a haircut or pay my taxes (my accountant messages me on WhatsApp).

It's one of those where unless just about everyone were to go over to Signal, most people won't, because keeping track of messages in two apps is quite hard.

That leaves me stuck in this ecosystem, which is quite sad.

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1. throw7 ◴[17 Jun 25 14:58 UTC] No.44300069[source]▶
I refuse to be in servility to an app and don't use whatsapp. Facebook uses you. Let others, your friends, and family know the facts.

In the case of "business requirements", push back on businesses. You are actually the customer.

I get it though. The best might be a compromise where you try to limit the contacts on whatsapp to only those you have no choice.

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2. barbazoo ◴[17 Jun 25 16:23 UTC] No.44300872[source]▶
That's the way.

> I'd love to just go over to Signal fully but then I couldn't talk to family, friends, and probably couldn't even book a haircut or pay my taxes (my accountant messages me on WhatsApp)

Comments like these make me think it's probably more a problem of inertia. Of course they can still talk to family (visit/call/email/sms/fax/mail,...), and of course they can still do their taxes, they might just have to get a different accountant that does business outside of WhatsApp. This all would take more energy than living in this beautifully convenient platform that Meta set up for them.