As brands push deeper into private digital spaces, regulators are beginning to draw firmer lines around where marketing ends and privacy begins.
The recent move by the National Privacy Commission to investigate the “Buo ang Saya ng Pasko” Christmas campaign of Jollibee Foods Corporation on Viber reflects a growing regulatory focus on how commercial content is delivered inside private messaging platforms.
While the NPC has stressed that its inquiry remains preliminary and fact-finding, the case highlights a broader trend confronting regulators worldwide: marketing strategies designed for public social feeds are increasingly migrating into environments users still perceive as private.
The shift from broadcast to intimate spaces
Over the past decade, brands have largely mastered advertising in public or semi-public digital spaces such as social media feeds, video platforms, and search results. Messaging apps, however, represent a different terrain.
Private chats are not simply another distribution channel. They are spaces associated with personal relationships, informal conversations, and a higher expectation of privacy. When branded content appears inside these environments, especially without clear user initiation, it can feel less like advertising and more like intrusion.
This shift has accelerated as platforms compete for revenue beyond traditional ads. Stickers, automated greetings, branded chat features, and business messaging tools now allow companies to embed campaigns directly into user interactions.
Why regulators are paying closer attention
Data protection authorities are increasingly concerned that the intimacy of messaging platforms amplifies the impact of even subtle marketing tactics.
Under the Philippines’ Data Privacy Act of 2012, as with similar frameworks in other jurisdictions, regulators focus not only on whether personal data is collected, but also on how and where it is used. Direct marketing that intersects with private communications raises heightened questions about transparency, consent, and proportionality.
The NPC has repeatedly emphasized that consent for marketing must be specific and freely given, and that users must retain the right to object. In private messaging contexts, regulators are scrutinizing whether such consent is genuinely informed, or merely implied through platform use.
Platforms caught in the middle
Messaging companies themselves face a delicate balancing act. On one hand, they are under pressure to monetize massive user bases. On the other, their value proposition rests on trust and the perception of privacy.
Globally, platforms such as Meta through WhatsApp, as well as Telegram and Viber, have introduced business and brand features while publicly insisting that private messages remain protected. Regulators are increasingly testing whether this distinction holds in practice when branded content appears inside chat interfaces.
A warning shot for brands
For advertisers, the emerging regulatory posture serves as a cautionary signal.
Creative campaigns that feel warm, festive, or culturally resonant in concept can still trigger backlash if users feel they did not meaningfully opt in. In private digital spaces, perception matters as much as legal compliance.
Marketing experts note that the future of brand engagement in messaging apps will likely depend on stronger opt-in models, clearer disclosures, and designs that allow users to control how and when branded content appears.
Innovation, with guardrails
The NPC has been careful to frame its role as one of balance rather than prohibition. Regulators are not seeking to shut down innovation, but to ensure that commercial creativity evolves alongside respect for fundamental privacy rights.
As messaging apps continue to blur the line between communication tools and marketing platforms, cases like the Jollibee–Viber campaign may become reference points for how far brands can go inside private digital spaces.
For now, regulators are signaling that the era of “move fast and apologize later” does not translate well into people’s private chats.
