Nigeria, June 16 -- The new update will place ads on the Status screen, which works like Instagram's Stories.

Users will start seeing these ads after viewing a few updates posted by their contacts.

The company shared that the ads will be based on general user details such as language, location, and the channels they follow. Information from ads users have interacted with will also be considered.

However, WhatsApp assured that private details like phone numbers, messages, calls, and group chats will not be used to target users with ads.

Meta, which owns WhatsApp, also revealed that users and companies can now promote their Channels in the discovery section of the app.

Channels are used to send out updates to many followers at once.

S...