Ads might make their way to WhatsApp

It seems like online services are nothing without ads. With time, more and more companies have added advertisements to their services in order to earn more revenue. The social media apps that were previously free from ads are now getting ads. Reportedly, one of Meta’s platforms, the famous messaging app Meta WhatsApp, is about to get ads.

Just recently, Will Cathcart confirmed that ads might be coming to WhatsApp. A few weeks ago, the company’s head denied this information that WhatsApp could soon get ads, which was claimed in a report by the Financial Times. In addition to this, Cathcart asserted that ads won’t arrive in inboxes; rather, they will appear on the Status page and Channels. He made this statement in an interview with a Brazillian publication. He added that the company doesn’t consider it a suitable idea to place ads in inboxes.

He continued by speculating about other messaging service locations that would be prime for advertisements. “I qualified my response because there can be advertisements in other channels or status updates. Channels may, for example, charge for subscriptions and be available only to subscribers who pay for access or have promotional goals. No, we won’t send you advertisements in your inbox.

Previously, in 2018, Meta shared the idea of introducing ads to WhatsApp’s Status page. In 2020, the company abandoned this plan, probably because it was not a successful business strategy back then. The decision to flood WhatsApp with advertisements was met with opposition, even from co-founder Brian Acton. Acton said, “I sold my users’ privacy to an additional benefit,” in a Forbes interview from 2018. “I decided to make a concession. And I deal with that on a daily basis.

There are no details on when ads will arrive on WhatsApp. We are not sure how the company will manage to make ads acceptable for users. Additionally, since WhatsApp talks are end-to-end encrypted, it’s unclear what information the company will use to target ads at its users.