WhatsApp, the Meta-owned messaging app used by close to 2 billion people worldwide, is ramping up its advertising efforts. While the app has long promised a privacy-first experience free from traditional ads, recent updates suggest that’s changing, and changing fast.

In a blog post published Monday, WhatsApp announced an expansion of its “Channels” discovery and business tools, designed to help you find more content and shops directly within the app. Alongside this rollout, Meta is preparing to introduce more ads, including sponsored content in WhatsApp’s Status feature and Channel recommendations.

This move builds on the company’s broader strategy to monetize WhatsApp without disrupting its core messaging experience. According to reporting by TechCrunch, WhatsApp will soon begin testing ads that appear in the Status tab — similar to Instagram Stories ads — and sponsored channel suggestions will start showing up in the Updates tab, where you see statuses and channels from friends and creators.

“We want to make it easier for people to discover content and businesses they care about on WhatsApp,” the company said in its blog post, emphasizing that you’ll still control who you follow and what you see. But for many, this signals a shift in WhatsApp’s long-standing identity as a clutter-free, private chat platform.

Meta did not provide additional information upon CNET’s request for comment. 

Where the ads will appear in WhatsApp

The new ad placements will roll out in several key areas:

• Status ads: These will look and feel like Instagram Story ads, appearing in between organic Status updates from friends.
• Sponsored channel suggestions: When browsing the “Updates” tab, you will start seeing paid recommendations for new channels.
• Business messages and promotions: WhatsApp is also encouraging businesses to use its new features to promote sales, discounts and product launches.

For now, these ads won’t interrupt one-on-one encrypted messages, but the expansion of commercial content may still impact how you experience the app.

Can you remove ads in WhatsApp?

No, not really. There is currently no in-app option to turn off ads on WhatsApp. Since the app doesn’t offer a premium or ad-free subscription tier, you will likely have to live with these new ad placements, particularly in Status and Channel discovery sections.

However, there are a few workarounds if you want to avoid ads or limit data collection:

• Stick to private chats: One-on-one and group chats are still end-to-end encrypted and free of ads.
• Disable auto-play for statuses: This can help minimize exposure to Status ads.
• Try alternative apps: Privacy-focused messaging apps, such as Signal and Telegram, don’t run ads and offer similar chat features.

Read also: Signal, Telegram or WhatsApp: Which Encrypted Messaging App Should You Choose

The broader Meta advertising picture

Meta’s move to bring more ads into WhatsApp isn’t happening in a vacuum; this move is part of a much larger shift across the company’s platforms toward AI-powered advertising and monetization.

As outlined in CNET’s recent reporting, Meta is going all-in on artificial intelligence to power its ad systems. The company is increasingly relying on AI tools to generate and place personalized ad content across Facebook, Instagram and now WhatsApp. This allows advertisers to create more targeted, automated campaigns with less manual input and allows Meta to rake in more ad revenue with greater efficiency.

For Meta, WhatsApp has always been a sleeping giant in terms of monetization. Unlike Instagram and Facebook, which are flooded with ads and algorithmically curated content, WhatsApp has stayed relatively pure, focused on private communication. But that also means it’s been underutilized from a business perspective, which is something Meta seems now eager to change.

With the introduction of ads in Status, sponsored channels and new business tools, Meta is signaling that WhatsApp will become a more active part of its revenue engine. For now, WhatsApp insists it’s trying to balance monetization with user control. But for longtime users, the era of an ad-free experience may soon be a thing of the past.

The integration of ads also gives Meta more space to deploy its AI ad technology. The more you engage with Status updates, Channels and shopping features inside WhatsApp, the more signals Meta can feed into its ad systems to refine targeting across its entire app ecosystem. In short, the ads coming to WhatsApp aren’t just about making a few bucks from business tools. They’re about folding the platform into Meta’s larger vision of AI-powered, cross-platform ad dominance. And for you, that means more commercial content surfacing in places that once felt more private.

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