• by Colin Kirkland , Yesterday

After 11 years, Meta is finally bringing ads to its encrypted messaging platform, WhatsApp.

In an update made by the social-media giant on Monday, Meta says it will introduce advertisements in WhatsApp's “Updates” tab -- where users are able to share texts, photos, voice notes and video messages with each other.

Now, brands will be invited to launch sponsored content in the tab in an effort to provide advertisers with a native way to place ads among updates posted by friends and family members, ultimately broadcasting products out to the app's 3 billion monthly active users -- 100 million of whom are based in the U.S.

According to the company, status updates on WhatsApp are viewed by up to 1.5 billion people per day. The ads placed highlighted there will be delivered to target audiences based on personal data, such as users' location, device, language, who they follow and how they interact with ads.

Notably, private messages and chats will remain ad-free and encrypted.

For years, brands have had the ability to run ads on other Meta platforms such as Facebook and Instagram that direct users to WhatsApp in order to communicate with the brand. Status ads will provide a more immediate way for brands to connect with consumers.

In April, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg told analysts that messaging between brands and consumers “should be the next pillar of our business.”

Nicola Mendelson, Meta’s head of business, posted on LinkedIn that this new ad format will roll out gradually over the next few months.

In its update, Meta says that for years the company has been attempting to build a business that doesn’t “interrupt” users’ personal chats. Which is how it eventually landed on the Updates tab. Meta adds that it will “never sell or share your phone numbers to advertisers.”

In addition, Meta will soon begin showing promoted Channels in WhatsApp’s Explore page.