After years of speculation, it is official: WhatsApp is getting advertisements. Meta, the parent company of WhatsApp, confirmed on June 16, 2025, that it is rolling out ads through the app's Status feature. Additionally, the company is introducing sponsored channels and channel subscriptions, allowing users to receive exclusive content.
Advertisements between friends' status updates
The ads appear among the temporary messages in the Status section, WhatsApp's equivalent of Instagram Stories. In this "Updates" tab, users can share photos, videos, voice messages, and text that disappear after 24 hours. Instead of only seeing content from friends or family, users can now also encounter promotions from businesses.
According to WhatsApp, this is a way to connect users with relevant brands without interrupting private conversations. Meta emphasizes:
"We are building a platform that does not infringe on your personal chats. The Updates tab is the right place for these new features."
Sponsored channels and subscriptions
In addition to advertisements in Status, Meta is also launching new options for content distribution through the Channels feature. Channels are uniform news streams that users can follow. Within the "Discover" feature, "Promoted Channels" will now appear, allowing brands to highlight their channel to attract new followers.
Furthermore, channel administrators will soon be able to opt for paid subscriptions, granting followers access to exclusive updates. This opens up new revenue models for brands, media, and influencers, similar to paid communities on Telegram or Discord.
Privacy remains a sensitive issue.
Meta wants to emphasize that the advertisements are tailored based on "limited information" such as country, language, followed channels, and interaction with ads. If users link WhatsApp to their Meta Accounts Center, preferences from other Meta platforms (such as Facebook and Instagram) will also be taken into account.
Important: Meta promises that phone numbers, messages, calls, and group chats will not be used for ad targeting. This commitment is significant, given previous concerns about privacy on the platform.
Years of controversy come to a climax
Meta has been considering displaying ads on WhatsApp since 2018, but put the plans on hold at the time due to criticism regarding the impact on user experience and privacy. The original WhatsApp founders were strongly opposed to advertisements and left the company after its acquisition by Meta in 2014.
Nevertheless, the question remained: how does Meta generate revenue from a platform that boasts over 2 billion active users worldwide but has no advertisements or paid features? In 2023, WhatsApp CEO Will Cathcart confirmed that the company was still working on a "responsible" ad integration.
What does this mean for users and advertisers?
For advertisers and brands, a new channel is opening up to reach target audiences in a space where commercial opportunities were previously scarce. This could offer new possibilities, especially in emerging markets where WhatsApp is often more popular than Instagram or Facebook.
Whether users perceive these developments positively will become clear in the coming months. Meta is betting that subtle, non-intrusive formats such as Status ads and channel subscriptions will indeed be accepted.
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