Facebook is ditching plans to sell ads that would have otherwise been placed inside the messaging app. The social media giant has been looking for ways to monetize the app since it acquired for $ 22 Billion in 2014.
However, the move to place ads on Whatsapp proved so unpopular with the founders that is Brian Acton and Jan Koum that they left Facebook in 2018. Apparently, the team that had been set up to build ads on the app has been disbanded and their work deleted from WhatsApp’s code.
According to Wall Street Journal, Facebook still plans to integrate ads into WhatsApp’s Status feature, but for now, the app will remain ad-free. For the time being, focus has shifted on WhatsApp features that will “allow businesses to communicate with customers and organize those contacts.