BRUSSELS - Meta Platforms will permit rival artificial intelligence chatbots to access WhatsApp for one year, a move designed to preempt potential interim orders from EU antitrust regulators. This decision follows complaints from competitors who were blocked from the messaging service.
The European Commission had previously warned Meta of interim measures to prevent serious harm to rivals after the company restricted access, allowing only its own Meta AI assistant.
A Meta spokesperson stated, "For the next 12 months, we'll support general purpose AI chatbots using the WhatsApp Business API in Europe in response to the European Commission's regulatory process." The company believes this addresses the need for immediate intervention, allowing the Commission time to conclude its investigation.
However, a complainant, Marvin von Hagen, CEO of The Interaction Company, criticized Meta's move, stating, "What Meta presents as good-faith compliance is in reality the opposite. The company is now introducing vexatious pricing for AI providers that makes it just as impossible to operate on WhatsApp as the outright ban did."
Meta's policy changes will also extend to Brazil, following a court's reinstatement of an injunction from the country's antitrust authority.