After years of providing free services without any bells attached, WhatsApp is now going to start showing ads on the popular chat app. To be clear, users will only see ads on the Status screen — the app’s take on Instagram’s Stories.

The cofounders of WhatsApp resisted ads in the app for years, including after the company was acquired by Meta for $22 billion in 2014. Brian Acton and Jan Koum left the company in 2017 and 2018, respectively, and on Monday Meta introduced ads in the “Status” feature as well as sponsored Channels in the the “Updates” tab of WhatsApp.

Meta is making a major shift in how it monetises WhatsApp, its massively popular messaging platform, by introducing ads and subscription features in the coming months. The change, announced on June 16 via a press release and further explained in a briefing with reporters, marks the first time WhatsApp will host paid promotions.

Por TheWhatsApp informó el lunes que los usuarios comenzarán a ver anuncios en partes de la aplicación de mensajería, ya que su propietario Meta Platforms

For now, the ads will only appear on WhatsApp's Updates tab, where users can update their status and access channels or groups targeting specific interests they may want to follow. In its announcement of the ads, parent company Meta claimed that placing ads under Updates means that the ads won’t “interrupt personal chats.”

ChatGPT has introduced a significant enhancement on WhatsApp, as OpenAI has officially launched image creation features via the verified number 1-800-ChatGPT.