WhatsApp’s CEO refuted a Financial Times claim that the messaging network was looking at advertising as a way to increase revenue.
“This @FT report is completely bogus. “We’re not doing it,” WhatsApp CEO Will Cathcart declared in a statement on the social media network X, formerly known as Twitter.
According to those familiar with the situation, teams at Meta were debating whether to show ads in lists of discussions with contacts on the instant messaging chat screen, but no final decisions had been taken.
Meta was reportedly debating whether to charge a monthly fee to use the app ad-free, according to the Financial Times.
The messaging network informed the Financial Times in a statement that “we can’t account for every conversation someone had in our company, but we aren’t testing this; we’re working on it, and it’s not our plan at all.”
The Financial Times said several firm insiders were also opposed to the plan.
Meta did not react promptly to a reporter’s request for comment.
In 2014, Facebook paid $19 billion for WhatsApp, which had long been a free communication service.
Meta has already been attempting to increase the messaging network revenue. Last year, CEO Mark Zuckerberg stated that WhatsApp and Messenger would drive the company’s next wave of revenue growth, with business messaging “probably going to be the next major pillar” of Meta’s business.
As of June this year, WhatsApp’s business application served more than 200 million users on its network, a fourfold increase from approximately three years earlier.
