Facebook scraps plans to shove ads into WhatsApp

Facebook will no longer be included in WhatsApp according to a new report by the Wall Street Journal (paywalled).

Initial plans detailed by The Verge (via India’s Economic Times) suggested that the social network was planning to integrate advertisements into the chat service back in 2018.

They wouldn’t be placed in your chats though, but rather WhatsApp Status, its Instagram Stories-like feature.

According to the paper however, it’s been shelved, at least for now.

The social network has “disbanded” the team responsible for discovering ways to integrate ads into the service, it cited “people familiar with the matter”.

That’s a good thing for users. WhatsApp seems to be the last bastion of Facebook that isn’t infiltrated by ads. And it’s this threat that led to the resignation of the company’s founders Jan Koum and Brian Acton in 2018.

It also led to this classic tweet by Acton, which itself started a mild online movement.

It is time. #deletefacebook

— Brian Acton (@brianacton) March 20, 2018

There’s no telling that Facebook won’t be including ads to WhatsApp in the future, but at least it won’t happen tomorrow.

Feature image: the WhatsApp app icon, by Shereesa Moodley/Memeburn