Will Cathcart is stepping down as head of WhatsApp, closing a seven-year run starting in 2019 that saw the messaging platform expand into business services, advertising and artificial intelligence (AI) while repeatedly defending its core promise of encrypted communication.

Tech giant Meta will invest Rs 8,550 crore (around $900 million) in Cred, in what is among the largest financing deals for an Indian fintech startup. Founder Kunal Shah has left Cred to lead WhatsApp globally replacing Cathcart.

Cathcart’s departure comes at a time when WhatsApp is in the middle of a transition. Under him, the platform recently rolled out Meta’s AI assistant powered by its latest model, Muse Spark, alongside privacy-focussed features such as “incognito chat” built on confidential computing infrastructure using chips from AMD and Nvidia.


The feature ensures conversations are not visible even to Meta, though Cathcart acknowledged this limits the company’s ability to train its AI systems.

The AI push has been particularly pronounced in India, which Cathcart identified as WhatsApp’s largest market and the biggest user base for Meta AI globally as reported by ET in May this year.

Cathcart’s tenure also marked a shift in monetisation strategy. In 2026, WhatsApp began introducing advertisements within its Updates tab, its first major move into ads while maintaining that personal chats, calls and statuses remain end-to-end encrypted and outside the advertising system.

ET reported that brands using WhatsApp marketing tools on the company’s network recorded median gross merchandise value growth 2.25 times higher than those that did not.

At the same time, WhatsApp Business expanded significantly, especially in India, where millions of small businesses use the platform for customer engagement, supported by both free and paid tools.

Who is Will Cathcart?

Before leading WhatsApp, Cathcart spent nearly a decade (2010–2019) at Meta, where he worked on News Feed and helped introduce mobile advertising, later becoming vice president of the Facebook app overseeing video, groups, marketplace and stories.

Prior to this, he worked with Google (2006–2010), focusing on anti-spam technologies for Gmail. As part of his academics, he is a graduate of Colgate University.

In recent months, Cathcart had also overseen product decisions with competitive and regulatory implications, including restrictions on third-party AI chatbots on WhatsApp’s business platform and ongoing legal challenges around antitrust concerns.

The challenging times

His time at the helm was not always smooth. In 2021, WhatsApp faced widespread backlash over privacy policy changes related to business messaging and data sharing with Facebook.

Cathcart publicly clarified that personal messages remained encrypted and engaged with regulators, particularly in India, where scrutiny from authorities and the Competition Commission of India (CCI) intensified. He has since maintained that any data-sharing frameworks would comply with local regulations.

Cathcart also dealt with rising competition and criticism around privacy. He dismissed allegations including those amplified by xAI founder Elon Musk that WhatsApp could access user messages, calling such claims unfounded and reiterating that encryption keys remain on users’ devices.

With over 500 million users, India is among WhatsApp's top revenue markets alongside Brazil, ET has learnt.