WhatsApp has made the decision to introduce widespread advertising features for users, marking a significant departure from its previous ad-free approach since its inception. This move comes as a significant change for the messaging platform that has long avoided incorporating ads.

The company's chief had previously denied any intentions of exploring advertisements to increase revenue, distinguishing WhatsApp from other social platforms like Facebook and Instagram that have integrated advertising extensively since Meta's acquisition of WhatsApp over a decade ago.

Users and regulators have been closely monitoring whether the social media giant would attempt to monetize an app that has been primarily used for personal communication with friends and family.

Up until now, the platform's advertising was limited to WhatsApp Business promotional messages for opted-in customers and some experimental Status ads in specific markets, with no display ads in chat feeds or conversations.

WhatsApp has announced that it will introduce three new monetization features exclusively within its Updates tab, which includes Channels and Status features used by 1.5 billion people daily and became widely available last year.

The company has assured that users who use WhatsApp solely for personal messaging will not experience any changes, as the new features will be contained within the Updates tab and can be disabled in the settings.

The new features will include paid channel subscriptions, promoted channels in the Discovery directory, and advertisements within Status, WhatsApp's equivalent of Instagram Stories. WhatsApp has emphasized that these new advertising features are designed with privacy protections in place.

Nikila Srinivasan, vice president of product management at Meta, stated, "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." The company has also pledged to never sell or share phone numbers with advertisers and assured that personal messages, calls, and group memberships will not impact ad targeting.

To display ads in Status or Channels, WhatsApp will utilize basic information such as the user's country or city, device language, and activity in the Updates tab, according to Srinivasan.

The introduction of advertising on WhatsApp reflects Meta's strategy to capitalize on the platform's vast user base of over two billion monthly active users. Industry experts have long speculated that Meta would eventually introduce advertising to WhatsApp due to its large user base and high engagement rates.

The timeline for the rollout of these features was not specified in the announcement. Srinivasan mentioned, "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."