WhatsApp really is good, so Meta's had enough of that and is now 'monetising the periphery' with new ads that try to make it more like Instagram

WhatsApp has announced that, thanks to having a huge and captive audience, it's getting ready to make the experience just a little bit worse for everyone. So prepare thyself for three new ad features which are being rolled out globally across the popular messaging app (thanks, BBC).

The messaging platform is owned by Meta, and claims to have 1.5 billion global users. The new ads will not appear in peoples' private chats, say WhatsApp, nor will any of your (encrypted) message contents be used to personalise ads.