Meta to introduce ads and subscriptions on WhatsApp
Meta announced that it is adding ads and subscriptions to its WhatsApp messaging app in a June 16 press release.
The social media giant, primarily known as the parent company of Facebook, said that the changes will roll out over the next few months and that they are intended to help businesses and organizations grow.
"People really want to chat to businesses on their own terms, and they want to do it in a place where they already spend their time, which is on WhatsApp," Nikila Srinivasan, vice president for product management at Meta said on a call with reporters, according to CBS News.
The new ads will show up on the "Updates" tab where they can start a conversation with an advertiser by clicking on its status. Meta introduced the "Updates" tab in 2023, where users can follow businesses and organizations for news and other announcements.
"If you only use WhatsApp to chat with friends and loved ones, there will be no change to your experience at all," Meta said in the press release.
Channels able to offer subscriptions
Channel operators will be able to offer subscriptions to exclusive content when the new features roll out.
Channels can also pay to be promoted to the app's 1.5 billion users.
"For the first time, channel admins have a way to increase their channels’ visibility," Meta said in the press release.
A company spokesperson told CBS News that Channels will remain free to users.
Ad additions go against WhatsApp founders' vision
Meta purchased the app in 2014 and WhatsApp co-founders Brian Acton and Jan Koum left the company after Meta sought ways to monetize the app as well as data privacy concerns, the Wall Street Journal reported in 2018.
In a 2012 blog post, Acton and Koum wrote, "we wanted to make something that wasn’t just another ad clearinghouse" and called ads "insults to your intelligence."
Meta said in the press release that it will use "limited info like your country or city, language, the Channels you’re following and how you interact with the ads you see" to target ads. However, the company said that personal messages and groups would not be used to target ads.