WhatsApp said Monday that users will start seeing ads in parts of the app, as owner Meta Platforms moves to cultivate a new revenue stream by tapping the billions of people that use the messaging service.

WhatsApp announced yesterday that it will now show ads from businesses through its Stories-like feature, months after adding an unnecessary floating AI button to the main chat interface. In response,

The ads will be shown to users only within WhatsApp’s “Updates” tab to separate them from people’s personal conversations.

They will appear in only one part of the Meta-owned messaging service, it said. The move is potentially lucrative, while raising questions about user privacy.

WhatsApp is rolling out new ad features including a subscription model that will allow channels to offer exclusive content for a monthly fee.

WhatsApp is testing ads in Status and paid channel subscriptions, all inside the Updates tab. Private messages remain encrypted and ad-free.

Meta Platforms Inc. will begin showing ads inside of its WhatsApp messaging service, opening a new potential revenue stream while the company invests heavily in artificial intelligence and other long-term projects.

Alice Newton-Rex, WhatsApp’s director of product, previously told the FT that WhatsApp statuses were “the world’s most used stories product”. They allow users to post images that disappear after 24 hours. The Updates tab attracts 1.5bn users daily, the company said.

Industry experts say WhatsApp ads do not violate privacy norms, while privacy advocates argue they breach user privacy principles.