WhatsApp fans look set to see a big change coming to the Facebook-owned Android and iOS chat app.
WhatsApp is the world’s most popular chat app, with over 1.5billion users each month.
The messaging app is owned by Facebook, and was purchased by the social networking giant back in 2014 for $1.5 billion.
Unlike the social network’s other apps, Facebook and Instagram, WhatsApp has so far remained an ad-free programme.
But that could all be about to change.
Earlier this year the chat app’s co-founder Jan Koum announced he was leaving WhatsApp and stepping down from the Facebook board of directors.
Rumours swirled that Koum had parted ways with the hugely popular chat app about the role adverts will play in the future of WhatsApp.
The news came weeks after Brian Acton, the man Koum co-founded WhatsApp with, posted a cryptic message on Twitter.
At the time he tweeted: “It is time. #deletefacebook”.
And now in an exclusive interview with Forbes Acton revealed he has left Facebook over a disagreement on how Facebook should monetise WhatsApp.
The 46-year-old claimed Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg and other executives wanted to send targeted adverts at users.
However, this was not an approach Acton agreed with, with WhatsApp having prided itself for many years on being ad-free.
Speaking to Forbes, he said: "At the end of the day, I sold my company. I sold my users' privacy to a larger benefit. I made a choice and a compromise. I live with that every day."
Acton said Facebook also wanted to sell businesses tools to talk to WhatsApp users, something he also didn’t agree with.
Acton added: “Targeted advertising is what makes me unhappy.”
The WhatsApp co-founder had proposed monetising WhatsApp through a metered model.
This would involve charging a nominal amount, like a tenth of a penny, after a large number of free messages were used up.
He said: “You build it once, it runs everywhere in every country. You don’t need a sophisticated sales force. It’s a very simple business.”
In 2014 when Facebook acquired WhatsApp, Facebook allegedly told Koum and Acton there would be “zero pressure” on monetisation for the next five years.
And now Forbes have reported that the monetisation will start next year.
Speaking to the website, a WhatsApp spokesperson confirmed that the chat app would begin displaying adverts in its Status feature next year.
This will mark a huge first for WhatsApp, with the chat app having prided itself on remaining ad-free.
A blog post written by Koum on the WhatsApp website explains the reasons the co-founders wanted to keep it ad-free.
The post was written prior to the Facebook acquisition at a time when WhatsApp was still a paid-for service.
It said: “These days companies know literally everything about you, your friends, your interests, and they use it all to sell ads.
“When we sat down to start our own thing together three years ago we wanted to make something that wasn't just another ad clearinghouse.
“We wanted to spend our time building a service people wanted to use because it worked and saved them money and made their lives better in a small way.
“We knew that we could charge people directly if we could do all those things. We knew we could do what most people aim to do every day: avoid ads.
“No one wakes up excited to see more advertising, no one goes to sleep thinking about the ads they'll see tomorrow.
“We know people go to sleep excited about who they chatted with that day (and disappointed about who they didn't).
“We want WhatsApp to be the product that keeps you awake... and that you reach for in the morning.
“No one jumps up from a nap and runs to see an advertisement.”
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