After years of providing free services without any bells attached, WhatsApp is now going to start showing ads on the popular chat app. To be clear, users will only see ads on the Status screen — the app’s take on Instagram’s Stories.

The cofounders of WhatsApp resisted ads in the app for years, including after the company was acquired by Meta for $22 billion in 2014. Brian Acton and Jan Koum left the company in 2017 and 2018, respectively, and on Monday Meta introduced ads in the “Status” feature as well as sponsored Channels in the the “Updates” tab of WhatsApp.

Meta Platforms Inc., the owner of Facebook and Instagram, is pushing deeper into AI-generated advertisements in a bid to make it cheaper and simpler for marketers to craft their messages.

Elsewhere, Google has recently been ramping up its campaign against ad blockers, blocking some users from watching YouTube videos and preventing playback. In the most recent update, the company is reportedly slowing down videos for users with ad blockers installed on their devices.

Feel like you're sitting through more ads on Prime Video? Well, it's not your imagination. The streamer has quietly

Democrats need relatable messengers and content targeting young men where they are, on gaming sites and social media, not a liberal Joe Rogan, says strategist Joe Jacobson.