Meta has announced the introduction of advertisements to WhatsApp, ending its long-standing ad-free experience.

But people who have chosen to link their WhatsApp account to Facebook or Instagram will see more personalised ads. The new ad features will appear in a section called Updates, which is a separate tab at the bottom of the app. WhatsApp claims to have 1.5 billion users globally.

WhatsApp on Monday announced that it will soon introduce advertisements and other paid features in a major shift for the messaging app, which has mostly remained ad-free since its launch. The move marks WhatsApp’s most significant step toward monetisation since it was acquired by Meta in 2014.