WhatsApp Introduces Ads and Subscriptions

WhatsApp is rolling out new features aimed at turning its Updates tab into a serious revenue stream without touching its core chat experience. The Meta-owned platform now allows channel subscriptions, promoted channels, and ads in Status, marking its biggest shift yet toward monetization.

Used by over 1.5 billion people daily, the Updates tab, home to Status and Channels, has quietly become a powerful content space. Now, WhatsApp wants to use that space to support businesses, media, and creators with tools to grow and earn.

The biggest change: channel subscriptions. Users can now pay for exclusive content from their favorite channels. Think premium updates from newsrooms, influencers, or brands delivered for a fee. It’s a move that could benefit media outlets and creators looking to monetize their audiences directly on WhatsApp.

To boost discovery, WhatsApp is also launching promoted channels, which are paid listings that give admins a way to surface their content in the directory. And ads in Status are making a debut, allowing businesses to place clickable promos where users already scroll.

Crucially, all these features live only inside the Updates tab. Personal chats, calls, and group messages remain off-limits and encrypted, Meta says. No ads will run in chats, and no private messages will be scanned to target promotions.

"We will never sell or share your phone number to advertisers. Your personal messages, calls, and groups you are in will not be used to determine the ads you may see." Meta said in a statement.

Targeting will instead rely on limited data: your language, country or city, channels you follow, and how you interact with in-app ads. If you’ve linked WhatsApp to Meta’s Accounts Center, that data will also help personalize what you see.