WhatsApp may start showing you ads soon

Users may see these ads on the platform after Facebook completes its multi-year effort to link all its social media platforms.

Users may see these ads on the platform after Facebook completes its multi-year effort to link all its social media platforms. (REUTERS)

Facebook has not abandoned its plans to serve ads on its instant messaging service WhatsApp, the media reported. Users may see these ads on the platform after Facebook completes its multi-year effort to link all its social media platforms, according to a report in The Information on Thursday.

Serving targeted ads on the platform could be a challenge as it provides end-to-end encryption which allows only the sender and the recipient of the messages to see the content, barring others, including WhatsApp, to view the content.

Facebook plans to solve the problem by finding a "match" for WhatsApp numbers in Facebook accounts, according to the report.

The plan has reportedly not gone down well with some of its executives who fear that this move may lead some users to delete their Facebook account.

Reports of plans about using Facebook data for serving ads on WhatsApp earlier also created controversies.

Facebook announced its intention to bring advertising to Status, WhatsApp's version of Stories in 2018.

A report in the Wall Street Journal in January this year said that the social networking giant had put WhatsApp advertising "on ice".

The new details revealed by The Information suggests that Facebook's plan to monetise WhatsApp, which has over two billions users globally, still holds.

A report in Engadget quoted a Facebook spokesperson as confirming that "ads in Status remains a long-term opportunity for WhatsApp."