EU orders Meta to grant rival AI assistants free access to WhatsApp
European Union antitrust regulators ordered Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) to grant competing artificial intelligence chatbots free access to its WhatsApp messaging service, utilizing emergency interim powers for the first time in 17 years to protect startup developers while a broader market-power investigation proceeds.
The European Commission’s directive requires Meta to reverse restrictions on its WhatsApp for Business application programming interface (API) within five working days.
The enforcer is investigating whether the social media giant abused its dominant market position by shutting out independent digital assistants while simultaneously promoting its own proprietary tool, Meta AI.
Under EU rules, a final finding of antitrust non-compliance carries maximum financial penalties reaching up to 10 percent of a corporation’s global annual revenue.
The sudden regulatory intervention highlights deep-seated anxieties in Brussels that dominant technology firms could use established digital networks to monopolize the rapidly expanding generative AI sector before smaller competitors can gain a commercial foothold.
EU antitrust chief Teresa Ribera stated that in rapidly evolving sectors, market competition can be permanently compromised long before a final regulatory decision can be drafted and formalized.
She emphasized that the interim measure is designed to safeguard the entry points necessary for independent AI providers to scale up in Europe.
The conflict originated in October of last year when Meta updated its service terms to bar external standalone AI assistants from accessing the WhatsApp Business infrastructure, which companies use to communicate with clients.
Following initial complaints from California-based developer The Interaction Company, French startup Agentik, and a Spanish competitor, the Commission launched a formal investigation in December and subsequently issued antitrust charges in February.
Though Meta revised its policy in March to allow third-party developers back onto the platform for a fee, European regulators determined the newly instituted charges functioned as an effective extension of the original ban.
Meta's pushback was swift, with corporate spokespeople characterizing the enforcement action as an overreach that forces the company to subsidize competitors.
The technology giant argued that the European Commission's ruling essentially grants free infrastructure access to highly capitalized firms like OpenAI at the expense of local European businesses that routinely pay for the platform's commercial tools.
Meta confirmed that it intends to mount a formal legal appeal against the emergency order.