Meta has announced that advertisements will soon appear on WhatsApp, specifically within the “Updates” tab which includes the Status and Channel sections opposing the original founders vision that kept it as an ad-free experience since 2014.

The company did clarify that said ads will not be shown in private chats, calls or groups preserving WhatsApp’s core end-to-end encrypted features, however, the ads will be limited to the non-intrusive updates feed apparently allowing businesses to engage with users directly through paid channel subscriptions. 

This move has sparked numerous concerns among the masses who envision this as a departure from WhatsApp’s original privacy focused, ad-free model. While Meta does claim user privacy will remain a priority, their aim of keeping personal communications private while expanding its advertising model remains to raise eyebrows till its public release.