How is WhatsApp maintained if it does not have advertising?

Meta has been working for years to find a way to turn its incredibly popular messaging apps into a profitable business. A few years ago, the company aggressively pushed automated messaging bots in Messenger, its other standalone chat app, but that use case never really took off. It also places ads within Messenger, though analysts don’t see that as a significant part of Meta’s revenue.

The new plan is a combination of trading and customer service. Charging companies to send messages through the API is the only way WhatsApp makes money today. But Facebook has invested in a number of international companies, including Jio Platforms in India, to secure partners for WhatsApp as it builds business and commercial features in those markets. In India, for example, many small business owners use WhatsApp instead of a website and rely on the service to engage with customers and display product catalogues.

WhatsApp is also trying to expand that functionality. Retailers can now promote a Facebook store on WhatsApp, a product catalog that works across all company apps, including Instagram. Idema sees Shops as a kind of graduation from WhatsApp’s existing catalogs feature, saying it will allow retailers to run a digital store from all Facebook apps rather than just WhatsApp.

The next phase of WhatsApp’s plan will also include payments, allowing customers to purchase products directly within the app. Those plans have run into regulatory hurdles in several countries, including India and Brazil, WhatsApp’s biggest markets, adding to the complexity of making money through private messages.