WhatsApp to Block External AI Chatbots on Business API Starting Jan. 15, 2026

Overview

• New terms bar AI providers from using the Business Solution when an AI assistant is the primary offering, with enforcement beginning January 15, 2026.
• Customer-service use of AI remains permitted only as incidental functionality, subject to Meta’s discretion on what qualifies.
• Companies may hire AI vendors as third-party service providers under strict contracts that limit data use and assign liability to the company.
• Policy forbids using Business Solution data—including anonymized, aggregate or derived forms—to create, train or improve AI models, though businesses may fine-tune models for their own use without contributing to other systems.
• Meta says large-scale chatbot use was an unanticipated strain on WhatsApp’s messaging infrastructure, and coverage notes the shift affects providers such as ChatGPT and Perplexity and could draw competitive scrutiny.