WASHINGTON : The Meta-owned app, known for prioritizing privacy and minimal commercial interference, will begin rolling out three new monetization tools exclusively within its Updates tab, which includes the Channels and Status features. These changes will not affect personal messaging, the company assured.
The new features include:
Paid channel subscriptions
Read More
- UAE deepens AI ties as Sheikh Mohamed meets OpenAI CEO Sam Altman
- Over 1.4 billion accounts hacked monthly worldwide: Cyber Security Council
- Meet Abidur Chowdhury: The Bangladeshi designer who gave the world the iPhone Air
- First look: Apple unveils iPhone 17 series with brighter displays, slimmer design, and AI upgrades
- Apple CEO Tim Cook announces new stores in Bengaluru and Pune
Promoted channels in the Discovery directory
Advertisements within Status — WhatsApp’s version of Instagram Stories
These additions represent the most direct effort yet by Meta to monetize WhatsApp’s massive global user base, which now exceeds two billion monthly active users. Until now, WhatsApp’s ad presence was limited to business message promotions for opted-in users and small-scale ad tests in the Status feature.
Nikila Srinivasan, Vice President of Product Management at Meta stressed that personal messages, calls, and statuses will remain end-to-end encrypted and protected from ad targeting.
Meta reaffirmed that no user phone numbers, personal messages, or group data would be shared with advertisers, and that users who prefer a completely private experience can disable the Updates tab in their settings.
The announcement comes just a year after WhatsApp’s leadership denied plans for major advertising. Analysts have long speculated Meta would eventually seek to tap into WhatsApp’s high engagement and scale.
For all the latest news from Oman and GCC, follow us on Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn, like us on Facebook and subscribe to our YouTube page, which is updated daily.
