EU launches antitrust probe into Meta over WhatsApp AI policies
The European Commission has opened a new antitrust investigation into Meta over how the company is rolling out AI features inside WhatsApp.
Brussels suspects that the new business rules for AI providers could block competing AI chatbots from reaching users via WhatsApp, giving Meta’s own AI assistant an unfair advantage in the market.
Under the announced terms, AI companies that want to use WhatsApp (especially the business version) to offer their assistants would have to accept new Meta conditions that part of the industry sees as overly restrictive. Some European AI startups already claim such rules would effectively shut the door on competitors and push users toward Meta’s own AI solution.
What happens next and why it matters
The European Commission is now examining whether:
- Meta is abusing its “gatekeeper” position in the messaging market with these rules,
- it is limiting innovation by making it harder for other AI providers to enter,
- it is violating EU competition law, separate from the existing Digital Markets Act (DMA) framework.
If the Commission concludes there is a serious risk to competition, it could even temporarily block the new rules from being applied in the EU while the investigation is ongoing.
For users and AI companies in Europe this is an important signal that the battle over who is allowed to “live” inside the big platforms (WhatsApp, Instagram, etc.) is moving to the regulatory arena – and that AI integrations are no longer just a technical question, but also a political and antitrust issue.
