Meta has confirmed it will introduce ads to WhatsApp, ending a long-standing “no ads” policy and marking a major shift for the world’s most-used messaging app.

The advertising rollout will begin globally over the next few months. Rather than in personal chat threads, promotions will appear exclusively in WhatsApp’s Updates tab, which is home to the platform’s Status and Channels features.

WhatsApp, which has over 3 billion monthly active users, says the decision is designed to balance monetisation with user privacy.

Meta says ads will be targeted using basic data such as location, language, and user interaction with content, but messages, calls, and group chats will remain end-to-end encrypted.

“This was a long-standing request from businesses,” said Nikila Srinivasan, VP of business messaging at WhatsApp. “People who only use WhatsApp for messaging will not see ads.”

Businesses with Channels will also be able to promote their content via the new ad model and charge monthly subscriptions for exclusive content. Meta will eventually take a 10% cut of these payments.

The move is a dramatic pivot from the app’s early ethos, with WhatsApp’s founders famously declaring “No ads! No games! No gimmicks!” before selling the company to Facebook in 2014 for US$19 billion. Both later left Meta over concerns about monetisation.

Meta, which earned US$160 billion in ad revenue last year, has already monetised Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger. By tapping into WhatsApp, Meta aims to compete more directly with rivals like Telegram and Snapchat.

But industry experts warn that if Meta pushes too far, user backlash may follow, particularly in Western markets where WhatsApp is seen primarily as a private communications tool.