WhatsApp Status and Channels Now Showing Ads: Here's How to Hide and Manage Them

Meta-owned messaging app WhatsApp has started showing ads to its users. This is the biggest change WhatsApp has seen in recent years, and now users will see ads in Channels and Status. According to media reports, this has already started in several countries, including India. Currently, chats are completely ad-free, but this change makes it clear that Meta has taken steps towards monetizing WhatsApp.

Ads have been appearing for the past few days

Several users have reported seeing promotional posts between status updates and in Channels for the past few days. Many users have also reported receiving in-app notifications regarding WhatsApp's new advertising policy. Meta has already confirmed that ads will be shown in WhatsApp Status, and it is now being rolled out to more users. WhatsApp says that these ads will help people discover businesses and allow them to communicate directly about products and services from within the app. Users' private chats, calls, and status updates will not be used for ad targeting and will remain end-to-end encrypted as before.

What options do users have?

When an ad appears, users can tap on it to view the advertiser's profile and learn more about the product or service. They will also have the option to hide and report the ad. If a user wants to hide an ad, they need to tap on the "Sponsored" label. Then tap on "Hide Ad" and hide the ad by going to the three-dot menu. If a user wants to manage ads, they can go to Settings, then Account Center, and then open Account Settings to set their ad preferences.