WhatsApp to Show Ads for the First Time

WhatsApp will start showing ads and offering paid subscriptions in the coming months, Meta Platforms, its parent company, said in a blog post on Monday. These moves will open a new revenue stream for Meta.

The ads will appear in a section of the app called updates, which is separate from a user’s private messages. About 1.5 billion people use that section daily, Meta said on Monday.

Advertisers will also be able to offer monthly subscriptions to their channel on WhatsApp, where users such as brands, influencers and politicians can share content with an unlimited number of people. They can also pay to promote their channel, so it is more prominently placed in the updates section.

Meta will collect some data on its users to target ads on WhatsApp, including their location and language, but it will not use people’s private messages, the company said on Monday.