WhatsApp announced yesterday that it will now show ads from businesses through its Stories-like feature, months after adding an unnecessary floating AI button to the main chat interface. In response,

More than a decade after it acquired WhatsApp, Meta will begin showing ads within the app.

It’s official, WhatsApp ’s latest update is bringing ads to the platform.

The Trump administration is discussing policies that would make it harder and more expensive for pharmaceutical companies to advertise directly to patients, in a move that could disrupt more than $10 billion in annual ad spending.

WhatsApp is rolling out ads. In an update on Monday, Meta announced that it will now show ads from businesses through its Stories-like status feature.

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.

‘We’ve seen this pattern before, with small updates that pave the way for much bigger changes. The introduction of ads could signal a wider shift away from private messaging toward monetised, monitored communication. European users should pay close attention – your messages may not stay as private as you think.’

Meta Platforms Inc., the owner of Facebook and Instagram, is pushing deeper into AI-generated advertisements in a bid to make it cheaper and simpler for marketers to craft their messages.

Target CPC bidding in Google Ads Demand Gen campaigns gives advertisers automated control to drive more clicks at a consistent average cost.