After a long six-year wait, Meta has finally started showing ads on WhatsApp. The plan to introduce ads was first revealed back in 2018, but the actual rollout began on June 16, 2025. This marks a major shift for WhatsApp, which had always been known for being private and ad-free.
The new ads won’t pop up in your personal chats or calls, which is a relief for most users. Instead, they’ll appear in the Updates tab, this is the section where people view statuses and follow Channels. This part of WhatsApp is already used by billions of users every day. Meta says it wants to keep the messaging experience as private as it has always been, so your individual conversations won’t be affected by this change.
The company has emphasized that it’s taking a privacy-first approach. Ads shown to users will be based on basic information like your country, language, and the Channels you follow. WhatsApp will not share your phone number or chat content with advertisers. Meta is trying to balance monetization while still protecting user privacy. If you’ve linked your WhatsApp account to Meta’s Account Center, then your ad preferences from Facebook and Instagram may also help in deciding what kind of ads you see.
Along with ads, WhatsApp is also adding a couple of new business-focused features. One is paid subscriptions for premium Channels. Another is promoted Channels, this means businesses can pay to boost the visibility of their Channel so more people can discover it. Right now, Meta isn’t taking a cut from these premium subscriptions, but that could change in the future as the platform evolves.
This is a big moment in WhatsApp’s journey. When Meta bought WhatsApp for $19 billion in 2014, the app’s founders strongly believed in keeping it ad-free. Over time, especially after the founders left the company, that approach slowly started to shift. With this update, WhatsApp is now more aligned with Meta’s other apps like Facebook and Instagram, both of which already feature ads and paid content tools.
The ads are designed to be subtle and non-intrusive. WhatsApp’s chief, Will Cathcart, mentioned that users who don’t regularly visit the Updates tab probably won’t notice a big difference. He reassured everyone that the core of WhatsApp, private and secure messaging. will remain untouched. Still, this rollout shows how Meta is looking for new ways to make money from its huge user base.
With over 3 billion users globally, WhatsApp has been one of the few major apps that hadn’t fully embraced advertising. But with this update, it’s stepping into the same business model that fuels most of Meta’s services. Ads and subscription options provide new sources of revenue while also giving businesses more tools to reach their audiences.
Overall, this move reflects Meta’s long-term plan to turn WhatsApp into a profitable platform, without compromising on privacy. Users might not love the idea of ads, but for now, they’ll be limited to just one part of the app. As long as the personal chats stay private and free from ad clutter, most people are unlikely to stop using the service. However, it will be interesting to see how users respond as these changes roll out globally over time.
If this experiment with ads in Updates proves successful, WhatsApp could start offering more business features and ways for creators and companies to grow their presence. For Meta, this is a test of how far it can go without pushing users away. For everyone else, it’s another sign of how even the most private apps are evolving to fit the modern internet economy.
Stay alert, and keep your security measures updated!
Source: Follow cybersecurity88 on X and LinkedIn for the latest cybersecurity news
