About ads in WhatsApp Status and Channels
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If you’re only using WhatsApp for personal messaging, you won’t see ads. Ads will only appear in the Updates tab, in Status and Channels, separate from your personal chats and calls.
Ads in WhatsApp Status and Channels are rolling out gradually and may not be available to you yet.
How WhatsApp protects your personal messages
As always your personal messages, calls, and statuses are end-to-end encrypted and can’t be used to show you ads. End-to-end encryption keeps your personal messages and calls between you and the person you’re communicating with. No one outside of the chat, not even WhatsApp, can see, hear or share them.
WhatsApp collects very limited information about you to operate. We don’t keep logs of who everyone is messaging or calling and don’t track the personal messages people are sending one another for ads. That means we don’t use the following information to show you ads:
- Your personal messages, calls, and statuses.
- Location shared in chats.
- Your device contacts.
- Your membership in groups with friends and family.
How WhatsApp decides which ads to show you
When it comes to delivering ads in Status and Channels you might be interested in, WhatsApp uses information including:
- Basic account information: This includes information you provide such as country code and age (where applicable).
- Device information: This includes your device information such as device language.
- General location: This includes your general (not precise) location, like city or country.
- Updates tab activity: This includes activity information on Status and Channels like channels you follow, content you engage with in channels, and ads you’ve clicked on in Channels or Status.
If you choose to add WhatsApp to Accounts Center, your ad preferences will apply and info across your accounts will be used for ads. Learn more about WhatsApp in Accounts Center.
We anonymize your information: WhatsApp uses Meta’s technology to show people ads. By default, we remove or alter personal information (like phone numbers) before sharing it with Meta so that Meta cannot identify you and is only able to suggest ads that may appeal to people who share broad characteristics such as a general area.
You decide whether to share personal information with Meta for ads: Access to your WhatsApp personal information is restricted, so Meta will not use it for ads on WhatsApp unless you choose to use optional features that work across Meta Company Products, like Accounts Center. Learn more about what information WhatsApp and Meta share through Accounts Center.
You control your ads experience
We clearly label ads in Status and Channels and make it easy for you to understand why specific ads are shown and what kinds of information are used.
- See why we’re showing you an ad: Tap or click “Why you’re seeing this ad” to view some of the factors we consider when showing you a certain ad. Like, when an advertiser wants to show their ad to people in the country that matches your phone’s country code.
- Manage your ad preferences: See a list of all recent ads and advertisers shown to you on WhatsApp and manage what advertisers you want to see ads from. If you use Accounts Center, you’ll manage your ad preferences (along with other settings) in Accounts Center.
- Control the ads you see: If you want to hide or report an ad, you will be able to provide that feedback.
Learn more about ads and privacy in our Updates Tab Privacy Policy.
