A recent piece of news circulating in India suggested that sending messages on the highly popular social media platform WhatsApp would no longer be free. This news caused concern among users of all ages. This app, which is more accessible and easier to use than Facebook and Instagram, has been completely free until now.

However, the confusion surrounding Meta’s new rules has now been clarified.

The core issue: Meta’s new rules do not apply to regular WhatsApp users. This new charging system is being introduced only for WhatsApp Business account users.

What Meta states

Meta, the company owned by Mark Zuckerberg, has announced that its new rules are primarily for WhatsApp Business platform users. This rule has been introduced to simplify the pricing methodology and to align with messaging industry standards.

How much will WhatsApp Business cost?

According to Meta’s rules, a charge will be levied for every message sent from a Business account. However, there is a condition: customers will only have to pay if the message is sent outside the ‘customer service window’. This means that if a business account user sends a marketing template or two utility templates, they will be charged separately for it.

When will this rule be effective?

The company has also stated that this new rule will come into effect from July 1, 2025. Once the new rule is implemented, the phone number’s country code and message category of the said users will be matched, and each charge will be applied based on that.

Relief for general users:

Thus, the good news for the public is that Meta is not introducing any rules for charging for general WhatsApp usage as of now. WhatsApp will remain free to use, just as it has been. This new rule applies only to WhatsApp Business. Therefore, general users can continue to use WhatsApp without worry for the time being.