No, WhatsApp won’t be running ads in the app… yet

Will CathcartWhatsApp director denied rumors published Financial Times that they plan to activate advertising in the application. “The article is false” judgmentalso remembering that they misspelled the name of Brian Acton, co-founder of one of the most popular messaging services in the world.

Another WhatsApp spokesperson insists that “while we don’t have a detailed record of every conversation someone has had internally, we can say that we’re not testing it, not working on it, and have no plans to implement it.” advertising in the application.”

According to him Financial TimesThe idea of ​​advertising on WhatsApp has sparked debate among executives at Meta, the company behind Facebook, which acquired the messaging service in 2014 for $19 billion.

One of the reasons why these discussions have heated up is that WhatsApp was intended to be a simple, easy-to-use and seamless service with a clear vision and mission: no ads, no games, no gimmicks. A phrase that has become a startup mantra.

But Meta needs to monetize one of its largest platforms, and at the same time the one that makes the least money. Before the purchase, WhatsApp charged an annual subscription to use it. The option is being considered, but as an alternative to advertising, according to Financial Times.

It’s all lies as long as we accept Will Cathcart’s words as truth. But it’s only natural that Meta and its managers are looking and working on ways to monetize WhatsApp usage.

Over 2 billion monthly active users

The number of monthly active users of WhatsApp continues to grow steadily, with 2.768 million people using it to communicate. 300 million more than a year ago.

Thus, the activation of advertising on WhatsApp will affect billions of people. According to the organization’s report FTIt is expected that more than 200 million registered businesses will be able to send direct messages to users within the app after payment.

As a result, the ad will look like just another conversation. That is, advertising will not appear inside the chat itself. It would be similar to how Gmail does it today.

But some Meta executives believe that adopting this model would mean that WhatsApp’s user experience would deteriorate to the point that there would be a switch to an alternative that does the same thing and remains completely free.

For now, according to WhatsApp’s director at Meta, that simply won’t happen. Although this is not the first nor the last time that there are rumors that the app will be advertised.