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The EU may force Meta to re-enable third-party AI chatbots on WhatsApp
Last year, Meta updated the WhatsApp Business Solution Terms in a way that sharply curtailed what third-party AI chatbots can do—effectively limiting them to customer support use cases. That move raised competition concerns in Brussels, prompting the European Commission to take a closer look.
Although the investigation is still ongoing, the Commission argues it cannot afford to wait for a final decision because delays could cause irreparable harm to competition. As Teresa Ribera, Executive Vice-President for Clean, Just and Competitive Transition, put it: “AI markets are developing at rapid pace, so we also need to be swift in our action.”
In its preliminary assessment, the Commission points to two core issues:
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WhatsApp is likely to hold a dominant position in the market for communications apps; and
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Restricting or excluding third-party AI assistants could amount to an abuse of that dominant position.
That opens the door for the EU to impose interim measures—potentially requiring Meta to restore third-party AI chatbot functionality on WhatsApp while the full case continues. Such measures would not prejudge the final outcome; Meta could still prevail once the investigation concludes.
Meta told Bloomberg by email: “The Commission's logic incorrectly assumes the WhatsApp Business API is a key distribution channel for these chatbots.”
Still, for companies like OpenAI and Microsoft, the practical impact is clear: ChatGPT and Copilot were removed and have not been available on WhatsApp since January 15.