Meta is finally adding ads to WhatsApp, marking a major change for the world’s most popular messaging app. The announcement comes 11 years after Facebook, now called Meta, bought WhatsApp for $19 billion.
For the first time, businesses will be able to run status ads on WhatsApp. These ads will show up in the Updates tab, where users can already share disappearing photos, videos, and text. Users who see the ads can directly message the advertisers inside WhatsApp.
Meta is also adding search ads to WhatsApp’s Channels feature. Channel creators will be able to pay to boost their visibility when users search for channels. In the future, Meta will also take a 10% cut from channel subscriptions, where creators can charge followers for exclusive content.
Meta says these changes will help make WhatsApp a bigger part of its business. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has called WhatsApp “the next chapter” for the company. Right now, WhatsApp has over 3 billion monthly users worldwide, including over 100 million users in the U.S.
Importantly, Meta says personal messages and calls will remain private and encrypted. Ads will only appear in the Updates section, not in chats.
WhatsApp’s co-founders were against putting ads on the app, and both left Meta years ago over disagreements about the future of the platform. But with billions of users, Meta is now moving forward with plans to make WhatsApp more profitable.
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