Overview
- The European Commission launched a competition investigation into whether Meta unlawfully restricts third‑party AI services on WhatsApp while favoring its own assistant.
- At issue are October 2025 WhatsApp Business API terms that bar third parties from using Business Solution data to build or train AI models, with only support uses allowed and a transition period until January 15, 2026.
- The case proceeds under EU antitrust law rather than the Digital Markets Act, carries no set deadline, and could lead to fines or behavioral remedies if violations are found.
- Italy’s competition authority is running a separate probe alleging WhatsApp users were effectively forced to accept Meta’s AI feature without the option to disable it.
- Meta rejected the allegations as baseless, citing system capacity concerns, while continuing product development such as testing Meta AI image editing in WhatsApp Status, which remains text‑only in the EU.