In a bid to increase its revenue base, WhatsApp is set to introduce a pay-to-use tool where businesses can interact with customers.
As part of the initiative, companies will be able to feed their customers and potential customers with information concerning their services.
This can include the price of products, delivery dates amongst others on the platform.
However messages sent on the platform will be encrypted, that is to say even WhatsApp will not be able able to read them.
When the delivery is confirmed, the businesses will then be required to pay a fee.
The messages will cost between 0.5 cents to 9 cents (0.3p to 7p) depending on the user’s country.
The Wall Street Journal report indicates that companies would be allowed to store copies of the messages elsewhere in a decrypted state.
Businesses can now use the WhatsApp Business API to send notifications such as shipping confirmations, appointment reminders and event tickets.
Facebook has been looking at ways to monetize its service in the face of rising costs as it spends heavily to improve privacy safeguards.
