What Do We Know About WhatsApp’s Plan To Display Ads On Chat Screens?

WhatsApp is exploring bringing ads to the messaging app for users on their chat screens. The news caught everyone’s attention and understandably so. The Meta-owned chat app is reportedly flirting with the idea of running ads on the popular platform.

Facebook (now part of Meta) had paid a whopping $13 billion to buy WhatsApp, which everyone at the time thought was far more valuable. But WhatsApp serves billions of users across the globe, and its daily active user base has grown exponentially, with more to come in the future.

The data collected through these users has certainly made WhatsApp a low-cost Meta, but reports have been talking about the company now looking to increase its revenue channels through WhatsApp. However, the head of WhatsApp quickly denied this information and claimed that the news is false and that Meta is not planning to bring ads to WhatsApp.

The FT report highlighted that Meta wants to show ads on WhatsApp between your chats. But Will Cathcart, head of Meta’s WhatsApp, shared this message to refute the FT report on Friday. He says WhatsApp doesn’t plan to bring ads to users, but doesn’t completely rule out showing ads in the messaging app in the future.

Meta owning WhatsApp makes it difficult to value the company and recent history confirms our suspicions. Meta had recently launched a subscription service called Verified that allows people to pay to be verified (a blue tick) on Facebook and Instagram. What does it mean that the company will not go back on its promise and finally bring ads to WhatsApp as well? After all, WhatsApp is owned by Meta, who runs the company.

The messaging application has a number of features that can become part of the subscription service. We’re hoping that day won’t come soon, but it can’t be completely ruled out.