WhatsApp chief Will Cathcart took to his X (formerly Twitter) account and shared a media report that the Meta-owned company is exploring options for displaying advertisements on its instant messaging app.

economic times report Several teams at Meta are discussing whether to display ads along with contacts in the conversation list on the chat page. The interface may appear similar to how ads appear in Messenger.

According to the report, no final decisions have been made and the idea is being discussed at a higher level because there are concerns that it could “alien users.” WhatsApp said in a statement that it is not testing or working on it, and has no plans around it.

WhatsApp has remained an ad-free app since its inception, even after the company was acquired by Meta (then Facebook) in 2014. This is in line with WhatsApp founder Brian Acton’s popular comment, “No Ads!, No Games!, No Gimmicks!”

However, in later years, Meta began using WhatsApp Business as a money-making machine for the instant messaging platform after ditching the $1 annual subscription fee. The application, launched in 2018, allows businesses to connect with their customers to provide various services and market new offers. Earlier this year it was reported that WhatsApp Business had reached 200 million users.

Meta’s other big acquisition Instagram has been leveraging advertising for quite some time. The social media app designed to consume image and video content displays ads in various places, including the content feed, Stories and Reels.

In recent news, WhatsApp has announced that its channels feature will be expanding globally in the coming weeks, starting with India. It also rolled out HD video upload support, multi-account support, a revamped macOS app, and more. Some changes seen in the latest Android beta suggest that the app may add support for cross-platform messaging in the future.