Meta has announced the introduction of advertisements to WhatsApp, marking a shift for the messaging platform more than 11 years after its acquisition.

The social media company stated that ads will appear in the Updates tab, which hosts users’ status updates and is accessed by approximately 1.5 billion people daily.

Meta confirmed that personal data, including location and device language, will be used to target these advertisements.

For those linked to Meta’s Accounts Centre, ad preferences and data from other Meta accounts will also be considered.

However, the company emphasised that chats and private messages will remain end-to-end encrypted and free from ads.

This shift marks a significant change for WhatsApp, as its founders had previously opposed incorporating advertising into the platform.

With the new features, users will encounter ads in status updates, promoted channels, and channel subscriptions. These initiatives aim to help channel administrators, organisations, and businesses expand their reach.

Ads in status will allow users to discover new businesses and engage in conversations about promoted products or services.

Additionally, channel subscriptions will enable users to support their favourite channels, such as news networks, through monthly fees for exclusive updates.

Promoted channels will enhance visibility for channel admins by highlighting new channels in the directory.

The company has committed to not selling or sharing phone numbers with advertisers, and personal messages, calls, and group chats will remain end-to-end encrypted and excluded from ad targeting.

Recently, Meta Platforms made a significant investment in Scale AI, raising the data-labelling startup's valuation to more than $29bn.

This investment will see Scale AI’s founder, Alexandr Wang, take on a leadership role at Meta, where he will oversee the company’s AI initiatives while retaining his position on Scale AI’s board of directors.

"Meta brings ads to WhatsApp" was originally created and published by Verdict, a GlobalData owned brand.

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