After granting Italy a similar exemption earlier in the month, Meta exempted Brazil from its worldwide ban on third-party AI chatbots on WhatsApp. This move comes some days after Brazil’s competition authority ordered Meta to halt its new policy prohibiting third-party, general-purpose chatbots from being sold on the app via its business API. WhatsApp let AI providers keep delivering their chatbots to customers with Brazilian phone numbers.
The business is giving developers and AI providers a 90-day grace period beginning on January 15 in accordance with the new policy, which requires them to stop answering customer enquiries on the chat app and inform users that their chatbots won’t function on WhatsApp.
According to a notification to AI providers seen by a member of the press, Meta has now informed developers that they do not have to inform consumers with Brazilian phone numbers (with code +55) of any modifications or stop providing their services.
“When messaging people with a Brazil country code (+55), the requirement to stop responding to user queries and implement pre-approved auto-reply language (mentioned below) before January 15, 2026, no longer applies,” the warning states.
A request to confirm the decision was not immediately answered by WhatsApp.
The policy, which takes effect today, affects the platform’s general-purpose chatbots, such as Grok and ChatGPT. Notably, the regulation does not prohibit companies from offering their clients customer support through WhatsApp bots.
Brazil’s competition agency stated in its notice that it will look into whether Meta’s rules unfairly favour Meta AI, the company’s chatbot available on WhatsApp, and exclude competitors.
After the Italian competition agency objected to the policy in December, Meta had already granted consumers in that nation a similar exemption. A separate antitrust probe investigating the new regulations has also been launched by the EU.
The corporation has always stated that its systems, which were built for various applications of its business API, are being strained by AI chatbots. In the past, Meta has even stated that users can utilise other chatbots outside of WhatsApp.
In response to CADE’s investigation on Tuesday, a WhatsApp representative stated, “These claims are fundamentally flawed.” “Our systems were not built to handle the load that the introduction of AI chatbots on our Business API caused. This reasoning presupposes that WhatsApp functions as a de facto app store. The app stores, their websites, and industry partnerships, rather than the WhatsApp Business Platform, are the path to market for AI startups.
Meta’s initial rationale for the ban was that Meta had earlier said that, as of January 15, 2026, general-purpose AI chatbots would not be allowed to access its Business API. The business maintained that:
The Business API was not meant to serve as a platform for third-party LLM distribution but rather for customer support and upgrades.
Due to the large message volumes, general-purpose AI bots put an “unanticipated burden” on WhatsApp’s technical infrastructure.
With the present situation, the affected regions are to ensure that Meta complies with local regulatory restrictions; users with phone numbers from Italy and Brazil are now excluded from the ban, even if it is still in effect in many other areas.
Also, the allowed use cases: Meta explained that the prohibition only targeted third-party providers that offered general-purpose AI “friends” or assistants over WhatsApp; it never extended to companies employing AI for their own customer service (such as a travel bot assisting with bookings).
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