EU Orders Meta to Allow Third-Party AI Chatbots Access on WhatsApp

The European Union has told Meta that it is breaching competition rules by blocking rival AI chatbots from accessing WhatsApp, and the company must make urgent changes. Since January 15, Meta restricted the messaging platform so that only its AI assistant, Meta AI, could operate on it. The European Commission emphasized that WhatsApp is an important entry point for AI chatbots such as ChatGPT to reach users and said Meta’s actions constitute an abuse of its dominant market position. Meta responded by claiming the EU had no reason to intervene and that it had incorrectly assumed WhatsApp Business is a key channel for chatbot use. Teresa Ribera, the EU competition chief, stated that effective competition must be protected to prevent dominant tech companies from gaining an unfair advantage. The EU will await Meta’s formal response, and depending on it, may impose interim measures to prevent serious market harm. Legal experts note that the preliminary findings suggest companies cannot leverage dominance in one market to unfairly advantage themselves in another. This action is part of a broader EU effort to regulate big tech, following recent measures against TikTok for addictive design and an investigation into Elon Musk’s X over concerns about its AI tool Grok.