It’s official, ads are coming to WhatsApp. However, depending on how you use the popular messaging app, you may never see one. Hot on the heels of the welcome addition of a proper WhatsApp iPad App, WhatsApp has confirmed it’s introducing ads to the platform alongside a couple of other features for businesses and channels

I talked with a professor of advertising to make sense of what this means for all of us who use those social media platforms.

WhatsApp says 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.