When Zuckerberg acquired WhatsApp, he made a promise: he would never introduce ads on the world’s most beloved messaging platform.

So, that’s not how the giant will monetize now that it has decided to offer the service for free.

Yes, it’s a small amount, 0.99 cents per year, which 900 million users gladly pay to exchange hundreds of messages a day or call friends, but WhatsApp has decided to eliminate it anyway.

Despite the annual cost being equivalent to just 6 or 7 SMS, it still represents a barrier to increasing active monthly users, as it requires having a payment card and linking it to the account.

To address this issue and involve even more people worldwide, especially from developing countries, the problem has been solved at its root. But now, how will WhatsApp survive?

One hypothesis is to replicate Facebook’s business model, making profits from data sales or large companies that can use the app for their services (e.g., an airline sending messages to customers about delays, or a bank notifying a credit to a customer’s account directly via WhatsApp).

Certainly, they have profited from those who, tired of renewing the subscription every year, paid for 3 or 5 years.