EU investigating Meta's policy change banning rival AI chatbots from WhatsApp

Meta's decision to restrict WhatsApp to only its own AI chatbot, Meta AI, has raised concerns among European competition regulators. The European Commission announced on Thursday that it is initiating an antitrust investigation into Meta's actions, which involve blocking other AI companies from using WhatsApp's business tools to deploy their own AI chatbots on the platform.

In October, WhatsApp updated its business API policy to prohibit the use of general-purpose chatbots on the platform, stating that the API was not intended to serve as a distribution channel for such bots. This new policy, set to take effect in January, would impact AI chatbots from companies like OpenAI, Perplexity, and Poke. However, businesses using AI for customer service on WhatsApp, such as retail companies with AI-powered bots, will not be affected by this change. The restriction applies only to AI chatbots like ChatGPT, which will no longer be allowed on the platform via the API.

The European Commission expressed concerns that the new policy could prevent third-party AI providers from offering their services through WhatsApp within the European Economic Area (EEA). The Commission highlighted that, as a result of this policy, competing AI services could be blocked from accessing customers through WhatsApp, while Metas own service, Meta AI, would remain available to users. The EUs executive vice-president for Clean, Just, and Competitive Transition, Teresa Ribera, stated that it was crucial to ensure that European citizens and businesses benefit from the AI revolution, and that dominant digital players should not use their power to stifle competition.

"This is why we are investigating whether Meta's new policy violates competition laws and whether urgent action is necessary to prevent irreversible harm to competition in the AI sector," Ribera said.

If Meta is found to be in violation of EU antitrust regulations, the company could face a fine of up to 10% of its global annual revenue, with the possibility of additional measures being taken by the Commission.

WhatsApp, however, rejected the EU's accusations, calling them "baseless." A spokesperson for WhatsApp argued that users still have many ways to access competing AI services, including through app stores, search engines, email services, and operating systems. They also explained that the introduction of AI chatbots into WhatsApp's Business API was straining systems that were not designed to support such tools.

Author: Riley Thompson