WhatsApp Introduces Ads and New Features

WhatsApp is rolling out ads as part of its latest update. On Monday, Meta announced announced that it will now display advertisements from businesses through its Stories-like status feature.

The status feature is located within WhatsApp’s “Updates” tab, allowing users to share disappearing text, photos, voice notes, or video messages. With this new update, users may encounter sponsored content alongside updates shared by friends and family.

Meta has been contemplating the introduction of advertising on WhatsApp for some time for years now, a concept that its founders had previously discussed were entirely against. Although Meta reversed plans to roll out in-app ads in 2020, WhatsApp head Will Cathcart confirmed confirmed in 2023 that the company was still working on implementing this feature. Last year, Meta made reported over $160 billion in advertising revenue.

According to Meta, the ads will be tailored to users’ interests by utilizing “limited” information, which includes factors such as the user’s country or city, language, the channels they follow, and their interactions with ads on the platform. Users will also have the option to modify their ad preferences through Meta’s Accounts Center.

In its update, Meta stated, “We’ve been talking about our plans to build a business that does not interrupt your personal chats for years, and we believe the Updates tab is the right place for these new features to work.” The company emphasized that it “will never sell or share your phone numbers to advertisers,” and reassured users that it will not use their messages, calls, or groups to inform its advertising strategies.

This update is not the only change Meta is implementing for WhatsApp. The company will also begin displaying promoted channels when users click on the Explore button to discover new channels to follow. Additionally, WhatsApp is rolling out a subscription feature that allows users to subscribe to channels to receive exclusive updates.