Meta recently expanded WhatsApp Channels globally to 150 countries. There were reports suggesting that Meta was considering placing ads on WhatsApp to increase revenue. However, Meta denied these reports and stated that discussions about ads were still in the early stages.
Will Cathcart, the head of WhatsApp, dismissed the Financial Times report about ads as false on a social media platform, X.com, previously known as Twitter.
The report mentioned that Meta’s teams were discussing the idea of displaying ads in the list of WhatsApp chats, but no final decisions had been made. Some employees within the company expressed their opposition to this idea.
Furthermore, the report indicated that Meta was contemplating charging users a fee to use WhatsApp without ads. However, WhatsApp clarified that they were not actively working on such a plan.
Meta acquired WhatsApp in 2014 for $19 billion and has been seeking ways to generate more revenue from it. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has emphasized the importance of WhatsApp and Messenger for Meta’s business.
WhatsApp Business, with over 200 million users as of June, has introduced new features like ads and paid messaging.
WhatsApp boasts 2.23 billion monthly users, surpassing Instagram and Facebook Messenger in popularity. However, the potential introduction of ads may impact user sentiments and behavior. We’ll have to wait and see if Meta goes ahead with this idea.