WhatsApp rolls out first major advertising features

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP): WhatsApp announced Monday it will introduce its boldest advertising features yet, marking a significant shift for the messaging platform that has largely remained ad-free since its launch.

The move is a sensitive one for WhatsApp, whose chief firmly denied a report in 2023 that said the Meta-owned app was exploring advertisements as it sought to boost revenue.

Unlike Facebook, Instagram, and other social platforms, WhatsApp has maintained minimal advertising since Meta acquired it in 2014.

Users and regulators have kept a close watch on whether the social media giant would seek to monetize an app that was primarily used to chat with friends and family, and was appreciated for its privacy.

Until now, the platform’s advertising consisted primarily of WhatsApp Business promotional messages to opted-in customers and some limited Status ad testing in select markets.

The messaging app has no display ads in chat feeds or conversations.

The company said it will roll out three new monetization features exclusively within its Updates tab, which houses both Channels and Status features used by 1.5 billion people daily and became widely available last year.

The company stressed that users who only use WhatsApp for personal messaging will see no changes to their experience, as all new features are confined to the Updates tab that can be deactivated in the settings.

“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,” WhatsApp said.

The new features include paid channel subscriptions, promoted channels in the Discovery directory, and advertisements within Status, WhatsApp’s version of Instagram Stories.

WhatsApp emphasized that the new advertising features are designed with privacy safeguards.

“I want to be really clear about one thing: Your personal messages, calls and statuses will remain end-to-end encrypted. This means no one, not even us, can see or hear them, and they cannot be used for ads,” Nikila Srinivasan, vice president of product management at Meta, told reporters.

The company committed to never selling or sharing phone numbers to advertisers and said personal messages, calls, and group memberships will not influence ad targeting.

“To show ads in Status or Channels, we’re going to use basic information like your country or city, your device language and your activity in the Updates tab,” Srinivasan said.

The introduction of advertising represents Meta’s effort to monetize WhatsApp’s massive user base of over two billion monthly active users.

Industry analysts have long speculated that Meta would eventually bring advertising to WhatsApp given its scale and engagement rates.

The timeline for these features was not specified in the announcement.

“They’re going to be rolling out slowly over the next few months, so it might be a while until you see them in your countries,” Srinivasan said.