WhatsApp Channels crosses 500 million MAUs; Mumbai Indians, Indian Cricket Team, Diljit Dosanjh, Allu Arjun, among most popular channels

Mark Zuckerberg announced that WhatsApp Channels has surpassed 500 million monthly active users. Channels was launched by Meta as "a new way to get updates from people, organizations, and teams you follow on WhatsApp." Channels are separate from private chats, and who you choose to follow is not visible to other followers.

Mark Zuckerberg, announced the news on his WhatsApp Channel, “500 million monthly actives on WhatsApp Channels in the first 7 weeks! Great to see the WA community so engaged.”

WhatsApp has also launched Stickers on channels. Diljit Dosanjh and Chef Ranveer Brar are among the popular channels. Other channels people are enjoying, according to WhatApp, include International Cricket Council, Mumbai Indians, Indian Cricket Team, Katrina Kaif, Allu Arjun, Vijay Deverakonda, and TechBurner.

Here are some global top moments on Channels:

Bad Bunny at his dentist appointment

International Cricket Council live from the Cricket World Cup

BTS look at MLB World Series

Maluma asking followers to react based on their location

Sebastian Yatra announcing he’s hosting the Latin Grammy’s

WhatsApp Channel may also introduce advertisements in the Status feature, as per recent reports. WhatsApp's head, Will Cathcart, potentially disclosed the platform's ad-related intentions. He said WhatsApp will not display ads in the inbox, but the ads might appear in different locations, like Status or Channels. In 2019, WhatsApp tested ads in the beta version's Status segment, although never converted to the public version.

WhatsApp reported that it took action against 7.11 million accounts in September. According to reports, among these, 2.57 million accounts were banned proactively, even before receiving any user reports.