WhatsApp, an instant messaging app that Meta bought in 2014, is getting ads.
All other major Meta services have already been inundated with a steady stream of ads — think Instagram, Facebook Messenger, and the latest addition to the Meta family, Threads, which got ads not long after its birth. So, the fact that WhatsApp still didn’t have ads as of 2025 felt like an oddity — something that ran counter to Meta’s entire ad-driven business model.
And, although the eventual arrival of ads in WhatsApp was a long time coming and is in line with what Meta has been doing before, we can't help but regret this development.
WhatsApp is getting ads. What it means
All other major Meta services have already been inundated with a steady stream of ads — think Instagram, Facebook Messenger, and the latest addition to the Meta family, Threads, which got ads not long after its birth. So, the fact that WhatsApp still didn’t have ads as of 2025 felt like an oddity — something that ran counter to Meta’s entire ad-driven business model.
And, although the eventual arrival of ads in WhatsApp was a long time coming and is in line with what Meta has been doing before, we can't help but regret this development.
WhatsApp is getting ads. What it means
