Is Meta Putting Ads In WhatsApp? Here's What The Company Says

Meta is mulling to explore if it can charge a subscription fee to keep the world's most popular messaging app ad-free.

The social networking giant has been trying to increase its revenue.

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Social networking giant Meta-owned WhatsApp has denied exploring adding ads to chats, in a bid to monetise the platform after a report by Financial Times said, citing three people familiar with the matter, that the firm is in the early stages of discussing whether advertisements should be shown on the platform. However, Will Cathcart, head of WhatsApp at Meta posted on X, formerly Twitter that the story is "false". 

The social networking giant has been trying to increase its revenue. The FT report added that the company has not taken any decision on introducing ads to the platform. Furthermore, the report said that Meta is mulling to explore if it can charge a subscription fee to keep the world's most popular messaging app ad-free.

Meanwhile, Meta is likely to make a significant move in the European Union (EU) where it is likely to offer paid subscriptions to Instagram and Facebook users, in the wake of the region's comprehensive digital regulation strategy, a recent report by The New York Times said. Those who pay for Facebook and Instagram subscriptions would not see ads in the apps, said the people cited in the report. The move is likely to help Meta fend off privacy concerns and other scrutiny from EU regulators by giving users an alternative to the company’s ad-based services, which rely on analyzing people’s data, the NYT report added.

 

 

The social networking giant will also continue to offer free versions of Facebook and Instagram, but they will come with ads in the EU. There is no clarity on how much the paid versions of the social media apps would cost or the exact timeline of launch.

It is pertinent to note that when Facebook acquired WhatsApp in 2014, its co-founder Brian Acton had made “No ads! No games! No gimmicks!” a company mantra.