Meta will allow rival AI chatbots to access WhatsApp in Europe for a fee over the next year, following pressure from EU antitrust regulators. This move aims to head off potential interim measures after the European Commission opened an investigation into Meta's initial decision to block competitors from the messaging service.
The company had previously barred rival AI services in January, allowing only its own Meta AI assistant, citing system strain. A complainant, The Interaction Company, criticizes the new fee-based access as an anti-competitive restriction that replaces an outright ban.
The European Commission is analyzing Meta's proposed changes as part of its ongoing antitrust investigation. Similar regulatory actions and policy changes are also applying in Italy and Brazil.
Main Topics: EU antitrust investigation, Meta's policy change on AI chatbot access to WhatsApp, competitor complaints, regulatory actions in Europe, Italy, and Brazil.
Artificial intelligence rivals will be allowed on WhatsApp for a year, Meta Platforms said, aiming to head off a possible temporary order from EU antitrust regulators after complaints from competitors shut out of the messaging service.
The European Commission, the EU's competition enforcer, last month threatened interim measures to prevent potential serious and irreparable harm to rivals after Meta blocked âthem from WhatsApp, â mirroring moves â by Italy's watchdog in December.
Meta has now told the Commission it will let rival AI chatbots access WhatsApp for a fee. The company barred them on January 15, allowing only its Meta AI assistant on the service.
"For the next 12 months, we'll support general purpose AI chatbots using the WhatsApp Business API in Europe in response to the European Commission's regulatory âprocess," a Meta spokesperson said.
"We believe that this removes â the need âfor any immediate intervention as it gives the European Commission the âtime it needs âto conclude its investigation."
The Commission said it was analysing how â Meta's changes might affect both its interim measures review and âits broader antitrust investigation.
Meta has previously said the rise of chatbots âon its platforms strains its systems and that other channels exist for AI providers, including app stores, search engines, email services, partnership integrations and operating systems.
Meta allowed rival chatbots onto WhatsApp in Italy in January after an order from the Italian antitrust authority, which is still investigating.
The Interaction Company of California, developer of the Poke.com AI assistant âand a complainant to EU and Italian regulators, urged Brussels to impose an interim order on Meta.
"What Meta presents as good-faith compliance âis in âreality the opposite. The company â is now introducing vexatious pricing for AI providers that makes it just as impossible to operate on WhatsApp as the outright ban did," its CEO Marvin von Hagen said.
"The so-called âItalian 'solution' is thus no solution at all. It simply replaces one anti-competitive restriction with another," he said.
Meta said its policy changes will also apply in Brazil after a court on Wednesday reinstated an injunction from the country's antitrust authority that another court had suspended in January. The Brazilian case is similar to the EU and Italian ones.
The European Commission, the EU's competition enforcer, last month threatened interim measures to prevent potential serious and irreparable harm to rivals after Meta blocked âthem from WhatsApp, â mirroring moves â by Italy's watchdog in December.
Meta has now told the Commission it will let rival AI chatbots access WhatsApp for a fee. The company barred them on January 15, allowing only its Meta AI assistant on the service.
"For the next 12 months, we'll support general purpose AI chatbots using the WhatsApp Business API in Europe in response to the European Commission's regulatory âprocess," a Meta spokesperson said.
"We believe that this removes â the need âfor any immediate intervention as it gives the European Commission the âtime it needs âto conclude its investigation."
The Commission said it was analysing how â Meta's changes might affect both its interim measures review and âits broader antitrust investigation.
Meta has previously said the rise of chatbots âon its platforms strains its systems and that other channels exist for AI providers, including app stores, search engines, email services, partnership integrations and operating systems.
Meta allowed rival chatbots onto WhatsApp in Italy in January after an order from the Italian antitrust authority, which is still investigating.
The Interaction Company of California, developer of the Poke.com AI assistant âand a complainant to EU and Italian regulators, urged Brussels to impose an interim order on Meta.
"What Meta presents as good-faith compliance âis in âreality the opposite. The company â is now introducing vexatious pricing for AI providers that makes it just as impossible to operate on WhatsApp as the outright ban did," its CEO Marvin von Hagen said.
"The so-called âItalian 'solution' is thus no solution at all. It simply replaces one anti-competitive restriction with another," he said.
Meta said its policy changes will also apply in Brazil after a court on Wednesday reinstated an injunction from the country's antitrust authority that another court had suspended in January. The Brazilian case is similar to the EU and Italian ones.
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