Ads in WhatsApp will be shown only in the app's Updates tab, which is used by as many as 1.5 billion people each day.

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

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.