EU opens antitrust probe into Meta over plan to block rival AI chatbots on WhatsApp

New Delhi: The European Commission has opened a formal antitrust investigation into Meta Platforms over its plan to block rival general-purpose AI chatbots from using WhatsApp’s Business API, while keeping its own Meta AI service fully integrated.

The probe focuses on a policy update Meta announced in October 2025 for the WhatsApp Business API, which is due to take effect in January 2026. Under the new rules, AI assistants from competitors such as OpenAI, Perplexity and other general-purpose chatbot providers would no longer be allowed to plug into WhatsApp via the API. Meta AI, by contrast, would remain available to users inside the app.

EU is examining whether this design harms competition by shutting out rival AI providers from one of the world’s largest messaging platforms, which has more than 2 billion users globally, including a significant base in the European Economic Area.

The Commission suspects Meta’s conduct may infringe Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and Article 54 of the EEA Agreement, which prohibit the abuse of a dominant market position that restricts competition within the Single Market.

Regulators are acting on complaints from smaller AI developers who argue that the update would give Meta an unfair advantage in the fast-growing AI chatbot market. By cutting off API access to competing chatbots, they say, Meta could tilt user adoption towards Meta AI simply because it remains embedded in a widely used messaging platform.

Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, has rejected the allegations.

A WhatsApp spokesperson called the EU’s concerns “baseless” and said the policy is designed to protect the integrity and performance of its systems. According to Meta, the sudden rise of general-purpose AI chatbots on the WhatsApp Business API has put a strain on infrastructure that was not built to support such intensive, always-on use cases.

The company said the change will not affect businesses that use AI for specific customer service tasks, such as automated retail support or scripted query handling. Instead, it targets broad AI integrations that mirror or compete directly with Meta’s own AI assistant.

Meta also argued that the AI market remains “highly competitive”, pointing out that users can access rival chatbots via app stores, web browsers, search engines and other digital platforms even if they are not integrated into WhatsApp.

Despite reported pressure from US officials to soften the EU’s stance on Big Tech regulation, the Commission has pushed ahead with the investigation. 

If Meta is ultimately found to have abused a dominant position, the company could face fines of up to 10% of its global annual revenue. The Commission could also order Meta to suspend or reverse the WhatsApp policy at the centre of the case.

The Commission has said it will prioritise the probe but has not given a timeline for its conclusion, noting that the duration will depend on the complexity of the case and Meta’s level of cooperation.

This is the latest in a series of enforcement actions the EU has taken against Meta in recent years, including large fines for data privacy breaches and other competition cases. For regulators, the WhatsApp AI investigation is emerging as a test of how far they can go in keeping AI ecosystems open as general-purpose chatbots become embedded in core consumer services.