Meta emphasised that private messages, calls, and group chats will remain ad-free, preserving the core messaging experience. “If you only use WhatsApp to chat with friends and loved ones, there will be no change to your experience at all,” the company stated in a press release.

WhatsApp, long known for its ad-free messaging, is about to break with tradition and introduce advertisements for the first time. WhatsApp, owned by Meta, announced that ads will soon appear in the app's Updates section,

The monetisation tools being introduced include optional paid subscriptions for Channels, promoted Channels in the Discovery section, and advertisements embedded in the Status feature, WhatsApp’s answer to Instagram Stories.

WhatsApp announced on Monday it will introduce its boldest advertising features yet, marking a significant shift for the messaging platform that has largely remained ad-free since its