In November of last year, Meta prohibited third-party chatbots on WhatsApp, despite having its own integrated solution. The European Commission (EC) has intervened, directing Meta to re-enable access to competing general-purpose AI assistants in WhatsApp at no cost while the EC's antitrust investigation into this ban continues.
The Commission's press release states that this action will "prevent serious and irreparable harm to competition in this emerging market due to Meta's actions, which seemingly violate EU competition regulations." The investigation began in December, and by February, it was preliminarily concluded that urgent measures might be necessary to avert significant market damage resulting from Meta's policy change.
This directive represents these necessary interim measures. The EC determined that "Meta has likely maintained a dominant position in the consumer communication applications market across the European Economic Area since at least January 2023" and that the company has "abused this dominant position by restricting access to the WhatsApp for Business API for competing general-purpose AI assistants."
The EC found that, at first glance, Meta's prohibition of third-party chatbots in WhatsApp amounted to a refusal to grant access to an infrastructure that was previously available to third-party developers. In March, Meta allowed access to third-party AI assistants in WhatsApp but implemented a fee, which the EC described as "essentially equivalent to the former access ban."
Today's order requires Meta to revert to the pre-October 2025 arrangement, wherein third-party AI chatbots had free access to WhatsApp. Meta must uphold these terms until the EC reaches a final decision on the matter.
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