Good news good Signal.
WhatsApp is officially getting ads
Submitted 5 weeks ago by MazonnaCara89@lemmy.ml to technology@lemmy.world
https://www.theverge.com/news/687519/whatsapp-launch-advertising-status-updates
Comments
ThePowerOfGeek@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
hansolo@lemmy.today 5 weeks ago
Only if you donate. Otherwise bad news, Signal.
WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Have they removed that dogshit crypto they added a few years ago? Haven’t donated since.
Signal was never more than a stepping stone anyway. Centralised privacy services, that can be taken down by any government, are doomed to fail under surveillance capitalfascism.
Jaybird@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
“We will never show you ads in WhatsApp. We promise”. --Facebook when they bought WhatsApp and promised the previous owner not to force ads in the app…
InnerScientist@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
I wonder if anyone believed them at the time
Jaybird@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
If they did not, they at least ignored that instinct and kept using WhatsApp…
How do we get people to stop ignoring their better instincts in things like this?
Taalen@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Should’ve included a clause that gives WhatsApp back to the sellers without returning the payment if they walk back from it. Put your money where your mouth is.
Kekzkrieger@feddit.org 5 weeks ago
If thats not a reason to switch to Signal what is.
But people just suck it up anyway, they did when reddit gone to shit, they did when Amazon startes showing ads even tho when you were paying, they did when Netflix disallowed sharing and you had to pay extra.
People just suck up whatever is thrown at them and are fucking stupid.
We cant have nice things, because companies will greed and if users dont react and cancel the shit out of them they and others will continue to press more moneyjuice out of people.
PlutoniumAcid@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Sheep don’t know they are being slaughtered. We’re the digital 1% and we can’t make the sheep wake up.
dependencyinjection@discuss.tchncs.de 5 weeks ago
I don’t use either but my issue with Signal is none of my friends want another application to install and they are happy with WhatApp.
Conversely, I’m happy not having a group chat app and will either text you or iMessage you. Don’t you dare ring me as I ain’t answering.
SaharaMaleikuhm@feddit.org 5 weeks ago
I just deleted WhatsApp one day and made the switch. Messaged all important contacts, that I will be available via Signal. Most of the few I care about went ahead and installed Signal. One is still dragging their feet and we communicate via SMS now xD
zewm@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
I only use WhatsApp for work and none of my coworkers are switching off it. They have too much invested in it. Family specifically.
hraegsvelmir@ani.social 5 weeks ago
I had a similar situation at my previous two jobs, but I just told people I wasn’t installing WhatsApp, if they asked, and nothing ever came of it. If it’s that important, they could text me or use my work email.
Fluxxr@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 weeks ago
How is signal insulated from the same fate? Isn’t it another free app that will eventually hit the enshitification wall?
ouch@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Signal is run by a non-profit. Moxie has integrity. And the software is open source.
There are more safeguards than in case of proprietary apps of for-profit companies.
Kekzkrieger@feddit.org 5 weeks ago
I mean yes thats possible. we dont have be bound to a company or app forever.
Generally Signal is by a non profit, meaning they dont have to make more money (as meta has to because they have obligation to share holders) meaning enshittification, if any, is gonna be slower and less probable
Auth@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
-
provide free app at a loss
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grow massive user base and market share
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squeeze your userbase for every cent they’re worth
Every single time. We got to solve the funding issue some how, I dont want to live in a future run by ads.
bonjour@mander.xyz 5 weeks ago
WhatsApp was not free and already had a massive user base before Facebook bought it.
Hope this will turn people to alternatives.
SheenSquelcher@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
I’d forgotten about this!!
Susurrus@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
It’s not very easy to solve the issue of infinite growth in a world with finite resources. The fundamental issue is that it’s just not physically possible, but they keep trying. Either we continue this cycle and eventually destroy the planet irreversibly, or we acknowledge that maybe money isn’t everything, and that maybe people aren’t inherently egoitistical monsters, and we move on to different systems.
hiramfromthechi@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
WhatsApp was charging $1-$3 per year before Facebook’s acquisition. They had 600M+ users and a team of twelve people. It was beautiful while it lasted.
Hopefully we can carry out the original mission with Signal.
ely@mastodon.green 5 weeks ago
@Auth
So that's why we donate to @signalapp
@MazonnaCara89tarknassus@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
The enshittification process in a nutshell.
hansolo@lemmy.today 5 weeks ago
Eastern Europe loves the app Viber that Rakuten bought, which has had ads for years.
matlag@sh.itjust.works 5 weeks ago
It’s not just the funding, it’s the business overall. Public companies need to show growing revenues year to year, and worse: growing revenues with a minimum yield. A product can grow by attracting more users up to a certain point. Then the only way to grow is by making more money out of the same users base. If the revenue is based on ads:
- Extend the product so that the user’s engagement increases (channels/others kind).
- Add paying features (freemium approach, that includes blue stars or whatever the hell you want it to look like…)
- Serve them ads
Freemium is not always working well and Meta never used it. They have no new great idea to extend the product without eating their other products users bases. So the only one left is more ads.
Funding is not the issue, for-profit companies are. Non-profit is the way to go. Federation is even better as individuals/families/small organizations can run their own servers.-
Auth@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
I dont think its for profit being the issue. Companies making a profit is fine. Its publicly traded companies giving bad incentives.
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sunglocto@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 weeks ago
LET THE ENSHITTIFICATION BEGIN!
diffusive@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Begin? 🤔🤔🤔
What year is this?
Reddfugee42@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
2025!
SeboBear@discuss.tchncs.de 5 weeks ago
Oh honey that ship sailed long ago
cRazi_man@europe.pub 5 weeks ago
I’m forced to use WhatsApp chat so I keep it installed begrudgingly. But who the fuck is using WhatsApp stories?
PlutoniumAcid@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
I use Beeper which shows me a unified view of whatsapp and Signal and others. whatsapp itself has zero permissions on my phone. I hate that I need to have it at all but Europe is deep into that. Sigh.
cRazi_man@europe.pub 5 weeks ago
There was a big uproar amongst normies when the WhatsApp TOS changed…but people forget quickly and prefer convenience. That was our one chance to convert everyone over.
lemmyingly@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
At least normal European people are locked into a platform that doesn’t care what device you’re using, unlike iMessage - so it’s not all bad
sykaster@feddit.nl 5 weeks ago
Isn’t Beeper another security risk? They also store your data on their cloud, and it’s not encrypted during the bridge process.
kirk781@discuss.tchncs.de 5 weeks ago
Whatsapp is popular a lot in many parts of the world. In India, WhatsApp is almost the defacto standard messaging app with Telegram probably flying in a far second. I doubt I know anyone who even uses stuff like Signal or Threema or any of the alternatives.
AugustWest@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
But then aren’t you trusting your credentials to yet another application? That seems like a bad idea…
Scotty_Trees@lemmy.world [bot] 5 weeks ago
Who is forcing you?
cRazi_man@europe.pub 5 weeks ago
Only my family, friends and work. But I’m working on cutting them out of my life.
mintiefresh@piefed.ca 5 weeks ago
Hopefully this helps people move off of WhatsApp to Signal or something else.
Ulrich@feddit.org 5 weeks ago
Yeah like it moved them off of Xitter, Reddit, Facebook and Instagram.
SaharaMaleikuhm@feddit.org 5 weeks ago
I mean we are here, aren’t we? The majority of people will do nothing of course, but some will make the switch or even just install another app just to give it a try. And soon Whatsapp’s enshittification will continue and some more people will switch and so on.
SieYaku@chachara.club 5 weeks ago
Hope so… Just a little bit and them another ones when they extent the implementation of IA… And wishing to not be the standard any more
FenderStratocaster@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
I just wish SMS would go away.
FinalRemix@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Why? It works fine and it’s built into the phones. No need to convince family members to install a fuckin’ chat app just to be able to message them.
SilverShark@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
I wished Whatsapp wasn’t a thing so much. There are so many so much better apps. Signal is so much better and it would work fine for the vast majority of people.
Scolding7300@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Unfortunately “better” varies from person to person. Signal is behind on features, e.g. WhatsApp has integration for businesses (customer support).
I hope my monthly donation will help but we must realize for some some features are important, I guess that for most it’s how many ppl they know is there/unwilling to lead a migration
SaharaMaleikuhm@feddit.org 5 weeks ago
Nobody in their right mind wants to use Whatsapp for getting support. That is insane. I want to message people and do group chats. That is it. Anything else is bloat.
SilverShark@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Yes, this is right. Saying arbitrarily “better” leaves a lot out.
I must admit that using the business integration for customer support has lead me to really good experiences. Especially not having to call, wait 20 minutes under a ring tone, and talking over a line with very low sound quality.
noxypaws@pawb.social 5 weeks ago
Facebook shit gonna do facebook shit
malfisya@piefed.social 5 weeks ago
This is one of the train that impossible for me to get off. It is very ubiquitous in my country to use whatsapp instead of text. I must suck it up I guess. 😅
Zak@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
A fair number of my contacts from countries where this is true also have Signal. If you don’t, I suggest installing it and seeing how many people are there.
If it’s hard to remember who uses what, start conversations from the contacts app instead of one of the messaging apps; in most cases it will tell you.
malfisya@piefed.social 5 weeks ago
Already did that months ago when they change the term of services and people are aware of it at the time. Many install Signal, tried them, signal got overloaded, experience degraded, people are back to Whatsapp. Now only dead account are there. Telegram is more popular but that is just jumping from crocodile's mouth to shark's.
Government agencies, company customee services all relies on Whatsapp. They have emails but if you want to get response in timely manners, Whatsapp is the way to go (Or twitter, again another bad alternatives).
At least it is still E2E (supposedly), so it is not all bad. Look, I know I sound pessimistic because I am (at least in this specific topic). I hope everyone else can do better than me, cheers!
rocky1138@sh.itjust.works 5 weeks ago
Be the change
Getting6409@piefed.social 5 weeks ago
It may not fit your exact needs, but my solution to WhatsApp and fb messenger is to bridge them with a beeper account. Of course you lose the calling ability, but if you're not using it for calls it is a good enough solution. The other caveat (at least with fb messenger) is you still need to check on your actual account if you get any legit messages from someone not on your list.
malfisya@piefed.social 5 weeks ago
This might be good middle ground. The last time I tried beeper, the apps is kinda .... suck tho. Well, at least it not full of ads!
Does it still require user to install their desktop app first?
lIlIlIlIlIlIl@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
[deleted]malfisya@piefed.social 5 weeks ago
The most important people in my life is my family, especially my parents. Teaching them to try new app to chat to me is easy enough but all of their friends and groups are still on whatsapp.
Making them juggle between two apps (separating how they interact to me and totheir friends) is not easy. Justifying it is even harder, they simply don't care (to understand) the implication.
Rather than make them confused and worried about not being able to contact me, I just have to accept the status quo. It is the conclusion I arrive at.
Must be nice tho to not use any Meta product. :)
Scolding7300@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9Ux8DFgMSM
Might give you some ideas on how to do that
TomMasz@piefed.social 5 weeks ago
Meta has been running ads claiming no one can read your WhatsApp messages, including them. For some reason, I'm not 100% sure about this. It's hard to imagine they can resist grabbing all that data for their AI somehow.
Hadriscus@jlai.lu 5 weeks ago
Of course they fucking grab it. They have 45 backdoors with golden handles otherwise they’re show the fucking source
altphoto@lemmy.today 5 weeks ago
Repeat after me… “Enshitification”!
dsilverz@friendica.world 5 weeks ago
@MazonnaCara89 The country I live in (Brazil) overly uses and depends on WhatsApp. From government departments to businesses and transactional relations, all the way to social and family affairs, people is addicted to it, forcing other people (e.g. me) to either have a WhatsApp account or ending up far beyond mere social ostracism (beyond mere loneliness): effectively, the inability to buy, sell, rent or even resolve citizen matters with certain government/state departments (such as receiving medical appointment schedules from Brazilian's public health system (Sistema Unico de Saude/SUS (Unified Health System) via their "postinhos"/"Unidades Basicas de Saude" (neighborhood public health centers)). They don't even use the grand old phone calling and SMS anymore: even "calls", when performed, are made by people/departments/businesses via Whatsapp VoIP functionality.
That said, it's worth mentioning that WhatsApp has been running ads for a long time: the "Channels" section lists seemingly random "channels", many of which are businesses with "verified" "blue badges". So it's effectively advertisement disguised as veiled "recommendations" from Meta. It seems like it'll just become worse (to the surprise of no one who understands what Meta is).
I really want to leave WhatsApp, but I'm socially compelled to stay (it's the only mainstream platform where I still have an account, against my will)... the raw, grotesque distillation from social compliance, worse than depicted in Derren Brown's documentaries...
razorcandy@discuss.tchncs.de 5 weeks ago
I’m more surprised it took them this long. Thankfully there are already many decent alternative messaging apps.
Ronno@feddit.nl 5 weeks ago
This is such great news! More ammo to use when trying to convince friends and family to move away from WhatsApp
zebidiah@lemmy.ca 5 weeks ago
I literally just got my senior citizen dad off Skype and over to WhatsApp like 2 years ago… Ain’t no way I can get him over to signal
Ulrich@feddit.org 5 weeks ago
Only shocking part of this is that it took them this long.
FelixCress@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Time to ditch WhatsApp
callyral@pawb.social 5 weeks ago
I hate how my country (Brazil) depends so much on Whatsapp. If I could, I would uninstall that app immediately.
nothrone@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 weeks ago
WhatsApp getting ads is great news! WhatsApp, and any other meta/facebook/for-profit-social-network will never be a good product. Therefore, the second best alternative is for it to be as bad as possible, so people finally change to worthy alternatives.
What is the alternative here? Don’t know, perhaps Signal, though the devs are not welcoming at all. The UI is absolute shit. Looks like UI for old people, huge margins and empty space. My screen fits like 3 chats. A compact theme would take a few hours to create and vastly improve the product, but ya…
sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 weeks ago
I forgot WhatsApp existed.
Guess its shittier now.
Mhm. Yup.
Wispy2891@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
the channels you follow
I knew they would use that info for targeted advertising
It’s Facebook 101, let the users themselves tell you what they like
aeternum@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 weeks ago
I hope Signal does this too! S
- no one ever.
cheese_greater@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Signal doesnt have ads…
JamonBear@sh.itjust.works 5 weeks ago
delta.chat
The enshittify proof alternative!
espentan@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Uninstalled.
Luckily I/people I interact with never used it much.
minorkeys@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Nothing better than having a private conversation with my friends and having some dude lean in to remind us that Brawndo, the thirst mutilator, has electrolytes.
FuryMaker@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
People are going to use whatever the majority use.
I need to ude WhatsApp when i travel to countries egere it’s widely adopted. Just like I need tocuse Facebook if I want to partake in group chats with friends.
They’re just too big. How is anything else supposed to take off? Just gradually maybe.
So maybe Signal will get there in a few years? What’s itd adoption rate since it was created?
Mynameisallen@lemmy.zip 5 weeks ago
Glad I got out when I did
NotForYourStereo@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
gasp
Who could have ever seen this move coming? From Facebook, of all companies!
toynbee@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
To be fair, I am shocked… Not to see a Pikachu face in the comments.
dalekcaan@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
Image
danc4498@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
As somebody that doesn’t use what’s app, I’m shocked it didn’t have ads already.