Media Matters: WhatsApp data privacy promises meant nothing

Messaging app's Facebook integration means users' info will be used to hone targeted advertising

There is no such thing as a free lunch, as the saying goes, and it appears we’re about to pay the price for eating out on WhatsApp’s dime.

*Angry face*

The ad-free messaging service, which has more than one billion monthly active users, announced at the beginning of this year that it was to go completely free and drop its annual €0.99 subscription fee. Wasn’t that nice of them?

No, no, it wasn’t. ...