‘We have been advised that the highest restrictions will be in place for users that have not verified their age,’ the DPC said.
SiliconRepublic.com understands that an Irish launch of ads in WhatsApp could be moving forward after plans were previously delayed over data protection concerns.
The Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) has had “ongoing engagement” with WhatsApp Ireland, it said in a statement to SiliconRepublic.com.
“The DPC has made a number of recommendations for improvements. Our understanding is that many of these have been implemented and improvements have been made around transparency.
“We have been advised that the highest restrictions will be in place for users that have not verified their age.”
It is understood that ongoing discussions with Meta have concluded and that the DPC is satisfied with its engagements with the company.
Meta, meanwhile, has said that its planned global rollout for WhatsApp ads is progressing gradually. It is not known precisely what changes the DPC recommended to Meta. The company did not respond to a SiliconRepublic.com query on the details of changes suggested by the DPC.
First unveiled last June, the new ads, where allowed, appear in WhatsApp’s ‘Updates’ tab, home to both its ‘Channels’ and ‘Status’ features. For a monthly fee, users can subscribe to Channels – for example, a news network – for “exclusive updates”, according to Meta. The company said it will also promote channels that it detects would be interesting to users.
Meta said that the ads will use “limited” information, such as a user’s country, city, language, device or browser used, the channels they already follow and how they interact with ads.
Additionally, the company will also use activity information such as the channels people view, the content they engage with in channels, if users have added their WhatsApp account to the ‘Accounts Center’ or if the company knows them to be over 18, Meta said.
The announcement last year prompted a sharp response from data privacy advocacy group NOYB, which said that data from Meta’s various platforms gets linked and “users are tracked for advertising without any genuine choice.”
The DPC told the press last year that the rollout would be discussed with other national data protection authorities before an EU launch in 2026.
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