Chat platform WhatsApp said today that it will limit the number of broadcast messages individual users and businesses can send to curb spam on the app.
In the coming weeks, the company will start testing limits on individual broadcast messages. Under these limits, WhatsApp will put a monthly limit on the number of broadcasts. While there will be moving limits during the test, one example Meta gave was allowing 30 messages per month.
Meta said that if individual users want to send more messages to a large number of people, they could use Status updates or channels.
The company is also thinking about putting similar guardrails around broadcast messages from business accounts. Until now, WhatsApp Business accounts could send free and unlimited broadcast messages, but the company will soon introduce a paid version of the feature with some additional tools.
In the coming months, Meta will test new customized broadcast messages for product updates or holiday sales. Plus, Business account users will be able to schedule messages as well. During the pilot period, merchants will get 250 customized messages for free, and then they will have to pay for additional messages. Currently, the company hasn’t put a price on these messages.
The company’s thinking behind this is that users can still receive occasional broadcast messages without feeling overwhelmed. WhatsApp has taken a few steps to reduce spam in user inboxes, like limiting the number of marketing messages users get in a day. Last year, the company started experimenting with an “unsubscribe” feature that lets users signal they would rather not receive certain types of messages from a business without blocking the account.
For the last few years, WhatsApp Business has become an important asset for Meta — revenue is growing, as the company executives have mentioned in quarterly earnings calls. The company’s ethos is to give merchants WhatsApp Business app for free with some features such as a landing page, a business profile with details, and the ability to create a catalog. The company then charges for various kinds of messages — including marketing, utility, service, and authentication — when merchants use the solution powered by its API.
Outside of the API charges for different kinds of conversations, Meta only charged for the optional Meta Verified subscription. The new broadcast messaging feature will be one of the first paid features for merchants who don’t use APIs. It will also become another revenue source for Meta.
Alongside those changes to how broadcast messages work, the company is also tweaking the logo of its WhatsApp Business app.