Written by Mohit Singhania | Updated: July 21, 2025 | TechMasala.in
You open WhatsApp to check your best friend’s birthday Status. You expect a cake emoji or a blurry selfie from last night. Instead, you get an ad. A full-screen promotion, cleanly marked with the word “Sponsored,” right in the middle of your regular scroll.
This isn’t a glitch. It’s WhatsApp’s quiet shift into the world of advertising. The app that once prided itself on privacy and simplicity is now starting to look a lot more like Instagram. Meta has officially started testing Status Ads and Promoted Channels, and if you’re in India, there’s a good chance you’ll see them sooner than you think.
Status Ads Have Arrived, And They Look Uncomfortably Familiar
Let’s start with Status Ads. These now appear right between your friends’ updates in the Status tab. They mimic Instagram Stories so closely that it’s almost muscle memory to swipe past them. Unlike organic updates from your contacts, these ads are clearly labeled. You can skip them, block advertisers, or report them. But you cannot pretend they’re not there.
The ads are targeted based on basic data like your language, region, or whether you’ve interacted with similar ads before. That’s what Meta says. For now, your personal messages are not being scanned, and your phone number isn’t shared with advertisers. Your chats, they claim, remain untouched.
But the Status tab was never meant to be a billboard. It was a space for close circles to share quick life updates, casual thoughts, or daily selfies. Dropping ads into that feed is like interrupting a group hug with a flyer. Even if the intrusion is small today, the direction is obvious. Once ads become normal, they don’t step back.
Promoted Channels Give Brands a Shortcut to Your Feed
Alongside Status Ads, WhatsApp has also begun pushing Promoted Channels. These are public broadcast channels that businesses and creators can pay to push higher in WhatsApp’s directory. Instead of growing slowly and organically, these channels now have a shortcut to visibility.
When a channel is promoted, it appears above regular search results and is marked with a “Sponsored” tag. It’s a familiar system. A brand pays. You see it. Whether you asked for it or not.
For WhatsApp, this is a strategic step toward the creator economy. For small businesses and influencers, it opens a new door to growth. But for users, it means another surface of the app is now up for sale.
Privacy Promises, But Can You Trust Them Long-Term?
Meta knows what people fear. Ads in your chats. Data being mined from your private messages. So far, WhatsApp insists that nothing of the sort is happening.
The company has stated clearly that ads are restricted to public areas like Status and Channels. End-to-end encryption remains intact. Your phone number will not be shared with advertisers. You can review your ad activity through a new Ad Activity Report, which lists which ads you saw, who showed them, and when.
On the surface, it sounds reassuring. But the platform’s history tells a different story. Facebook Messenger once made similar promises. Then the ads arrived. If Meta can monetize a feed, it will. Slowly. Quietly. Persistently.
AI Joins the Party with WhatsApp Chat Recaps
As if ads weren’t enough, WhatsApp has also started testing a new AI-powered feature called Quick Recap. Found in version 2.25.21.12 of the beta app, this tool uses artificial intelligence to summarize unread chats into short updates.
If you’ve ignored your school group or housing society chat for a few hours, you no longer need to scroll through everything. Instead, WhatsApp will show a recap like “Security gate issue resolved, meeting moved to Sunday, snacks discussion ongoing.” For overwhelmed users, it could be a blessing. For others, it’s yet another layer of algorithm quietly organizing their lives.
The feature is still in beta, but it signals something important. WhatsApp is no longer just a chat app. It’s becoming an AI-powered communication platform. And that shift, combined with monetization, hints at a much bigger transformation.
This Is Not the WhatsApp You Downloaded
Put it all together and the message is clear. WhatsApp is not standing still. It is expanding, monetizing, and evolving. Ads are now part of the experience. Channels are getting commercial treatment. AI is being used to manage your messages.
What started as a clean, private, no-nonsense chat app is now becoming a content feed, a discovery tool, and a business platform. For now, nothing has changed in your personal chat window. But give it time.
Meta doesn’t change apps overnight. It nudges them, layer by layer, until the old version is just a memory. And if you’re still using WhatsApp every day, the shift has already begun for you.
Have You Seen These Whatsapp Ads Yet?
If Status Ads or Promoted Channels have popped up on your phone, send us a screenshot. DM us at @TechMasala.in or tag us in your stories. Let’s document this rollout together, one “Sponsored” swipe at a time.
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