WhatsApp might put ads in the ‘Status’ feature for Android

Facebook-owned messaging app will presumably allow advertisements to be shown in the “Status” feature of the app, as per media reports. The status feature of WhatsApp allows users to share text, photos, videos and animated GIFs that disappear after 24 hours.

Since the end of last month, rumours regarding Facebook feeding advertisements on WhatsApp began. These rumours stated that the ads are coming up to WhatsApp for iOS, and now same happens for Android, Android Headlines reported.

A fan-site WABetaInfo that tests WhatsApp features early tweeted, "WhatsApp beta for Android 2.18.305: WhatsApp is implementing in this version ads for Status. They are not visible yet and the feature will be enabled in future.”

The advertisements would be powered by Facebook's native advertising system and would be aimed at helping users understand and participate in businesses using the messaging app, according to the previous media reports. The report added that this move has been making rounds ever since Facebook acquired WhatsApp.

So far there has been no comment on the rumors by WhatsApp.

Zuckerberg's goal to monetise WhatsApp has forced the social media messaging service's co-founders to leave the company, the report said.

Brian Acton, one of the co-founders of the messaging platform, has said that, “Targeted advertising is what makes me unhappy.” Recently he has also told Forbes that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was in a rush to make money from the messaging service and undermine elements of its encryption technology.

The report also said that Four years after its acquisition by Facebook for $19 billion, WhatsApp, which now has over 1.5 billion users (against Facebook's 2.3 billion), will carry targeted ads from 2019 -- on a platform that has been ad-free till date.