WhatsApp to introduce adverts to its mobile messaging
WhatsApp is planning to introduce paid advertising features to its mobile messaging service around the world.
The business, which is owned by Meta, the American technology giant behind Facebook and Instagram, said the feature would be rolled out globally in the coming months.
WhatsApp, which has previously boasted about its lack of advertising, said that adverts would be kept separate from the main conversation area of its app, and would instead appear in the 'status' section, where users can already follow 'channels' run by businesses.
The service has about three billion monthly active users, including about 200 million businesses and the move is likely to be lucrative for Meta, but could also prove contentious.
Meta, then called Facebook, bought WhatsApp for $19 billion in 2014. It is still the group's largest purchase. Before this, Brian Acton, co-founder of WhatsApp, had said 'no ads' was part of the company's mission statement.
WhatsApp had denied reports in 2023 that Meta was considering an advertising model for the messaging service.
The new advertising features on WhatsApp bring it closer to Facebook and Instagram.
Businesses with 'channels' on the mesaging service will be able to promote adverts on the updates tab of the app, and will also be able to charge a subscription fee for users to access additional content. WhatsApp is expected to take a 10 per cent commission for this.
Companies will also be able to advertise via a 'status update' with links to products and services, similar to the stories function on Instagram, and will be able to pay to promote their channel.
The service already provides services to businesses such as a customer service messaging.
WhatsApp said: 'These new features will appear only on the updates tab, away from your personal chats.'
It added that advertisers would not be able to access the content of users' messages. 'Your personal messages, calls, and statuses remain end-to-end encrypted, meaning no one (not even us) can see or hear them.'
It said it would allow access to users' information 'like your country or city, language, the channels you're following, and how you interact with the ads you see' for its advertising data.
'We will never sell or share your phone number to advertisers. Your personal messages, calls and groups you are in will not be used to determine the ads you may see,' WhatsApp said in a post about the new services.
'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.'
Having faced criticism for installing an unremovable 'ask Meta AI' function recently, WhatsApp appears to be aware of the potential for the move to alienate users. The WhatsApp boss Will Cathcart said it 'won't affect your inbox … if you're only using WhatsApp for messaging, you're not going to see this.'
The updates tab is used by 1.5 billion people a day but Cathcart said it was 'not particularly popular' in the UK compared with other parts of the world.
Meta has been sued by the Federal Trade Commission, a US regulator, which alleges it illegally acquired Instagram and WhatsApp to stifle competition.
Mark Zuckerberg, Meta's founder and chief executive, has pushed back on the claims, stressing that Meta faced intense competition from YouTube and TikTok, the Chinese-owned video-sharing app. This was evidenced by a surge of traffic that Facebook and Instagram experienced when TikTok was briefly taken offline in January, Meta has argued.
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