Mark Zuckerberg

By Hadiza Abdulkadir

In a significant move, Meta has announced plans to begin displaying advertisements in WhatsApp, its popular messaging platform. The decision marks a major shift in WhatsApp’s business model, which has long promised an ad-free experience for its users.

Meta officials stated that the ads will initially appear in the app’s Status feature—similar to Instagram Stories—and may later expand to other areas, such as the chat list. The company says this step is aimed at helping businesses reach customers more effectively, while generating new revenue from WhatsApp, which boasts over 2 billion users worldwide.

The announcement has sparked mixed reactions. While some view it as an inevitable evolution of the platform, others fear it may compromise user privacy and the simplicity that made WhatsApp popular.

Meta has yet to confirm an official launch date but assured users that end-to-end encryption in personal chats will remain intact.

By Ahmad Deedat Zakari

The CEO of Meta, Mark Zuckerberg, has announced new improvements and features to the messaging app WhatsApp. 

Mr Zuckerberg made the announcement in a Facebook post on Thursday. 

According to him, Meta has launched Communities on WhatsApp. 

He further explained that the Communities make groups better by enabling sub-groups, multiple threads, announcement channels and more. 

He also said WhatsApp is rolling out polls and 32-person video calling.

He said: “Today we’re launching Communities on WhatsApp. It makes groups better by enabling sub-groups, multiple threads, announcement channels, and more. We’re also rolling out polls and 32-person video calling too. All secured by end-to-end encryption, so your messages stay private.”

By Muhammad Sabiu

Users of WhatsApp, a famous messaging application, will start enjoying a feature that will allow them to exit from a group unnoticed.

This was announced by Mr Zuckerberg, the Chief Executive Officer of Meta (the parent company of Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram), via his verified Facebook handle.

Another feature that will be available on the application is that users will enjoy disallowing their contacts from taking screenshots of their messages on view.

He said, “New privacy features coming to WhatsApp: exit group chats without notifying everyone, control who can see when you’re online, and prevent screenshots on view once messages.”

Assuring the company’s commitment to privacy, he said his company would keep building new ways to protect users’ messages and keep them as private and secure as one-on-one conversations.