Thanks to professional broadcasts, a company you’ve already communicated with on WhatsApp will soon be able to send you advertising messages. However, this option will be strictly regulated.
Advertising will gradually be introduced to WhatsApp. In a blog post, Meta presented a new option for businesses on WhatsApp Business: professional broadcasts. This paid feature will allow brands to send promotional offers to users who have already interacted with them. At the same time, the platform is strengthening control options for users, so they “remain in control of [their] inbox” and can easily block these communications if they are deemed too recurrent, inappropriate, or intrusive.
WhatsApp will allow sending promotional offers
On Thursday, April 3, 2025, Meta unveiled a “new, more powerful message type” on WhatsApp Business, dubbed Business Broadcasts . With this feature, which appears to be rolling out, businesses will have the ability to pay to promote their offerings to users who have already interacted with them on the app.
But Meta insists: professional broadcasts can only be used in a “thoughtful manner .” To avoid any form of advertising spam , the Californian group has established a limit on the number of advertising messages that can be received by each user. In addition, these communications must be based “on pre-approved templates” on the platform, subject to a “strict validation” process, Meta adds. To support its corporate clients, WhatsApp Business will also offer performance indicators, allowing them to identify strategies “that work or not.”
The idea behind the integration of this feature, whose release date has not been communicated, is quite clear: to allow Meta to more easily monetize its instant messaging service, which “has always represented a challenge [for the group] despite its 2 billion users ,” recalls the specialist site Social Media Today . In 2019, Meta had already considered launching a targeted advertising system on WhatsApp, before abandoning the project.
The sending of promotional messages will be regulated to prevent abuse.
Meta understands that WhatsApp users don’t want to be inundated with ads, and is therefore proceeding with caution. In addition to limiting the number of messages that can be received, the California-based company has implemented other safeguards to protect its users:
- Consent to advertising messages: Users will have the ability to “adjust their chat preferences” and end their exchanges with a brand at any time. “You can block and report [a company] at any time ,” Meta said. It will be possible to indicate the reason for the block, including if you did not request to receive these offers.
- Message Feedback: An option will allow users to provide feedback on messages received from brands. They will be able to click Interested or Not Interested buttons for each offer or commercial announcement. Receiving these messages can also be “activated or deactivated at any time ,” it reads.
