Back in September, WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton revealed that Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg had monetization plans for the messaging service before the purchase was even complete. Today, following recent speculation, WhatsApp’s Vice President, Chris Daniels, has confirmed that ads will soon be coming to the app.

Set to act as the company’s “primary monetisation mode” and a way in which businesses will be able “to reach people on WhatsApp,” it has been confirmed that ads will soon make their way to the WhatsApp Status feature which, according to Facebook’s most recent financial report, has over 450 million daily active users.

Because Facebook is still emphasizing WhatsApp end-to-end encryption, it’s understood that it will not gather any data from the app directly. However, the ads will be powered by Facebook’s own advertising system which suggests Facebook may link up registered phone numbers with Facebook data profiles whenever possible in order to offer targeted ads.
At the moment, it’s unclear when these ads will begin rolling out to users. But if a recent piece of information is correct, iOS will be the first to receive them. Nevertheless, the ads are likely to roll out to the Android app shortly after.