Listen to The Big Take podcast on iHeart, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Terminal. The European Union became one of

WhatsApp might be getting ads, according to its boss. The company has categorically ruled out that it would be put advertising in the inbox. But it might come elsewhere in the app, such as WhatsApp’s “Status” feature, which works like Instagram stories. WhatsApp has long resisted introducing ads to any part of its platform. That sets it apart from other Meta platforms, such as Instagram and Facebook, which heavily integrate advertising. WhatsApp has long been rumoured to be considering putting ads into its app, with rumours stretching back as long as five years ago. But it has largely resisted the temptation, in part because of worries about whether it would concern privacy-conscious users, whom WhatsApp has particularly targeted. In September, the Financial Times reported that it was looking at changing that. The company was evaluating whether it would work to show ads in the conversation list, the paper reported. Meta outright denied that it had been testing or working on that feature, or that it planned to. “We aren’t doing this,” WhatsApp head Will Cathcart said on Twitter. But in an interview with Brazilian newspaper Folha De S.Paulo, Mr Cathcart was asked whether the app would continue to be free and not show ads. And he said that some ads might come to other parts of the platform. The app will not put ads within the “messaging experience”, such as the inbox or chats themselves. Instead, it could come in other parts of the app, such as the Status feature as well as the new Channels tool that allows people to subscribe to messages from creators. The company could also introduce the option to charge people to subscribe to those channels, he said. That could also be advertised within those Channels. He did not give any firm information about when the feature would arrive, or any commitment that it would actually be introduced. Read More Political ads on Instagram and Facebook can be deepfakes, Meta says Instagram working to let people make AI ‘friends’ to talk to Big tech poses ‘existential threat’ to UK journalism, survey of editors finds

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Two years after the Taliban banned girls from school beyond sixth grade, Afghanistan is the only country in the world with restrictions on female education

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Elon Musk has said he will live stream himself playing video games on X on Monday night as part of his goal of transforming the social media platform into an “everything app”. The tech billionaire previously tried to launch a gaming stream last week but ran into technical issues. “Tested the X video game streamer last night,” he posted on X on Monday. “It works!” The SpaceX and Tesla boss added that he would “try to complete a Tier 100 Nightmare dungeon” on Tuesday night during a live stream on X. Since taking over Twitter in October 2022, and renaming it to X in April 2023, Mr Musk has repeatedly stated his ambition to transform the social media platform into an “everything app”, starting by taking on streaming giants Twitch and YouTube. Similar to China’s WeChat, the app could eventually incorporate other functions and services like making payments, booking taxis or ordering food. Mr Musk has already secured money-transmitting licences in at least three US states, and has a history of building online payments platforms after co-founding PayPal. X chief executive Linda Yaccarino, who Mr Musk hired in June, laid out what this new version of the app might look like in a series of posts after joining the company. “X is the future state of unlimited interactivity – centred in audio, video, messaging, payments/banking – creating a global marketplace for ideas, goods, services, and opportunities. Powered by AI, X will connect us all in ways we’re just beginning to imagine,” she wrote. “For years, fans and critics alike have pushed Twitter to dream bigger, to innovate faster, and to fulfil our great potential. X will do that and more. We’ve already started to see X take shape over the past 8 months through our rapid feature launches, but we’re just getting started.” Before Mr Musk took over, Twitter had a video streaming feature called Periscope that was shut down in March 2021 due to declining usage. Mr Musk briefly tested the dormant feature in May 2023, though users dubbed him “8-bit Elon” due to the low quality resolution of the broadcast. Read More Elon Musk and the one trillion-dollar algorithm that explains everything he does Musk confirms he is cutting election integrity staff from X/Twitter ahead of 2024 Reddit will start paying people to post Tesla robot shown practising yoga

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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has entered the 2024 presidential race

(Reuters) -French IT company Atos on Thursday reported lower third-quarter revenue as good performance at its Eviden division was offset

LONDON Amazon workers came out on strike at multiple locations across Europe on Friday as protests against the