WhatsApp, the world’s most popular messaging app with 1.5 billion users, is introducing global ads for the first time—but not where you might expect. Owned by Meta, the platform is rolling out three new ad features that will appear outside your chats, primarily in the “Updates” tab. The move has already sparked mixed reactions across the tech community.
Meta promises that the new advertising system will not affect private conversations or group chats, nor will encrypted messages be used to tailor ads. Instead, ad targeting will rely on user location, language settings, and ad interactions. However, there’s a major caveat: if your WhatsApp is linked to Facebook or Instagram, expect your ads to be personalized using Meta’s broader data ecosystem.
Where Will the Ads Appear?
Ads will live in the Updates section of the app—home to features like WhatsApp Status and broadcast channels. Some users have already reported being prompted to follow seemingly random channels like “meme land” or “Labourer Jobs UK.” Businesses can now pay to promote channels, offer subscriptions, and display sponsored stories akin to those on Instagram.
Clicking certain ads may even start an AI-driven chat, another sign of Meta’s expanding push for artificial intelligence integration across its platforms. WhatsApp will take a minimum 10% commission from business earnings, with that percentage rising for larger companies.
What Meta Says vs. What Users Think
According to WhatsApp boss Will Cathcart, this rollout is about aligning the platform with Meta’s broader monetization strategy: “We have stories on Instagram and WhatsApp, and now we have a way for businesses to promote themselves in both. We think that’s a good thing.”
Critics aren’t so sure. Social media expert Matt Navarra calls it a strategy of “monetising the periphery” and warns that Meta may be testing how far it can go before alienating users.
“If they move too fast or it starts to feel like another ad network,” Navarra warns, “people might disengage—or worse, start to distrust the app.”
This update follows another controversial move: the forced integration of Meta AI into WhatsApp, which drew user backlash for its lack of opt-out options. Privacy-focused alternatives like Signal have taken shots at Meta, pledging “no AI clutter, and no surveillance ads.”
What’s Next?
Cathcart assures users that if you’re using WhatsApp only for messaging, you won’t be impacted—for now. But as Meta continues to explore ways to monetize its platforms, the line between communication and content may continue to blur.
Whether users embrace or reject these changes remains to be seen. But one thing is clear: WhatsApp, once praised for its simplicity and privacy, is gradually becoming a more commercialized piece of Meta’s advertising puzzle.
