WhatsApp Is Taking a Bold Step Into Advertising—But Personal Chats Stay Untouched
WhatsApp is stepping into new territory. On Monday, the messaging platform revealed plans to roll out its most significant advertising features yet—marking a big shift for an app that has largely stayed away from ads since it launched.
For years, WhatsApp has stood apart from its sister apps under Meta, like Facebook and Instagram, by keeping its user experience ad-free. And when whispers surfaced in 2023 about possible ad integration, company leadership quickly shut them down.
That’s what made this latest announcement such a surprise.
Until now, WhatsApp’s involvement with advertising has been limited. The platform offered some promotional tools for businesses and dabbled in testing ads within the Status feature in a few regions. But nothing intrusive—and certainly no ads in private chats.
Now, WhatsApp is making room for three new money-making features—but only in one part of the app: the Updates tab. This section, which includes Channels and Status, has quickly become one of the platform’s busiest spaces, attracting around 1.5 billion users daily.
Here’s what’s coming:
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Paid channel subscriptions
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Promoted channels in the Discovery section
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Ads within the Status feature (similar to Instagram Stories)
The company is being deliberate in its messaging: personal messages and conversations won’t be affected. If you use WhatsApp purely to chat with friends or family, you won’t notice any changes—unless you explore the Updates tab.
“We’ve always said we’d build a business model that doesn’t interfere with private conversations,” WhatsApp shared. “The Updates tab gives us the space to do just that.”
Nikila Srinivasan, Vice President of Product Management at Meta, was also clear: “Your messages, calls, and Status posts remain fully end-to-end encrypted. That won’t change. We can’t see them, and they won’t be used for advertising.”
In other words, ads won’t be tailored based on your private activity. Instead, promotions in the Updates section will rely on general data like your location, device language, and how you interact with Updates—not what you say in chats.
Importantly, WhatsApp says it won’t sell or share users’ phone numbers or group data with advertisers.
The company hasn’t shared exact dates yet, but said the features will roll out gradually over the coming months.
This new direction reflects WhatsApp’s attempt to tap into the potential of its more than two billion monthly users—without compromising the privacy that made it a favorite in the first place.
