In an effort to prevent a potential temporary order from EU antitrust authorities following concerns from rivals shut out of the messaging service, Meta Platforms announced that artificial intelligence rivals will be permitted on WhatsApp for a year in Europe. This is a significant turnaround intended to avoid immediate EU antitrust charges.
Following the actions of Italy’s watchdog in December, the European Commission, the EU’s competition enforcer, this month threatened to take temporary action to save rivals from suffering potentially severe and irreversible harm after Meta blocked them from WhatsApp.
Now, Meta has informed the Commission that it would charge competitor AI chatbots to access WhatsApp. On January 15, the business banned them and only permitted its Meta AI assistant to use the service.
A Meta representative has stated that 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 process. “We believe that this removes the need for any immediate intervention, as it gives the European Commission the time it needs to conclude its investigation.”
The Commission stated that it was examining the potential impact of Meta’s modifications on its examination of interim measures as well as its larger antitrust inquiry.
In the past, Meta has stated that the proliferation of chatbots on its platforms puts a strain on its systems and that AI providers can access alternative channels like app stores, search engines, email services, partnership integrations, and operating systems.
Following an Italian antitrust order in January, Meta allowed rival chatbots onto WhatsApp in Italy; the investigation remains ongoing.
Brussels was encouraged to impose an interim order on Meta by the Interaction Company of California, which developed the Poke.com AI helper and filed a complaint with Italian and EU regulators.
In actuality, what Meta claims to be good-faith compliance is the opposite. According to Marvin von Hagen, CEO of the company, ‘the so-called Italian “solution” is thus no solution at all. The company is now introducing vexatious pricing for AI providers that makes it just as impossible to operate on WhatsApp as the outright ban did. He further stated that it just swaps out one anti-competitive limitation for another.
After a judge on Wednesday reinstated an injunction from the nation’s antitrust authority that another court had postponed in January, Meta said that its policy adjustments will also be applicable in Brazil. The EU and Italian cases are comparable to the Brazilian one.
In context, the criticism started on January 15, 2026, when Meta modified its conditions to prohibit all third-party AI helpers, leaving Meta AI as the only choice on the platform. This was when the 2026 ban took effect.
The pushback from competitors, according to the CEO of The Interaction Company, happens to be among the rivals who have called the new fee-based approach “vexatious pricing” because it still effectively keeps out smaller businesses.
As of now, the ongoing inquiry is to ascertain if Meta’s first policy amounted to an abuse of a dominant market position, for which the European Commission is carrying out a more comprehensive antitrust inquiry.
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