WhatsApp’s high head on Friday denied a Monetary Instances report that stated the Meta Platforms-owned messaging platform was exploring commercials because it sought to spice up income.
“This @FT story is fake. We aren’t doing this,” WhatsApp head Will Cathcart stated in a submit on social media platform X, previously often known as Twitter.
The report stated that groups at Meta had been discussing whether or not to point out adverts in lists of conversations with contacts on the WhatsApp chat display screen, however no closing selections had been made, citing folks acquainted with the matter.
FT added that Meta was additionally deliberating whether or not to cost a subscription payment to make use of the app ad-free.
In a press release, WhatsApp instructed the FT that “we won’t account for each dialog somebody had in our firm however we aren’t testing this, engaged on it, and it is not our plan in any respect.”
FT additionally stated many firm insiders had been towards the transfer.
Meta didn’t instantly reply to a Reuters request for remark.
Fb purchased WhatsApp, which has all the time been a free chat app, in 2014 for $19 billion.
Meta has already been working to spice up income from WhatsApp. CEO Mark Zuckerberg final 12 months stated that WhatsApp and Messenger would drive the corporate’s subsequent wave of gross sales progress, with enterprise messaging “in all probability going to be the subsequent main pillar” of Meta’s enterprise.
WhatsApp’s Enterprise software catered to greater than 200 million customers on its platform, as of June this 12 months, a four-fold leap from about three years in the past.
© Thomson Reuters 2023
