The European Union today issued a warning to WhatsApp owner Meta Platforms Inc. today, threatening to take potential action against the firm for blocking rival chatbots from the messaging platform.
The European Commission said WhatsApp Business may have violated EU antitrust rules after an update that left Meta AI as the platform’s only available AI assistant. The change, rolled out last October, removed the option to use competing AI services, favoring Meta’s own assistant. By doing so, Meta stands accused of abusing its dominant market position.
“We must protect effective competition in this vibrant field, which means we cannot allow dominant tech companies to illegally leverage their dominance to give themselves an unfair advantage,” said Teresa Ribera, the European Commission’s competition chief.
The EU will now wait for a formal response from Meta, and in the meantime, it may impose “interim measures” to ensure there is no “irreparable harm” caused to the market. Meta may have no choice but to open the app to third-party AI assistants to avoid paying a fine.
“The facts are that there is no reason for the EU to intervene in the WhatsApp Business API,” a Meta spokesperson said in a statement, explaining that there are other AI options available to consumers. “The Commission’s logic incorrectly assumes the WhatsApp Business API is a key distribution channel for these chatbots.”
The Donald Trump administration has been critical of the EU for what it has said are “discriminatory” actions against U.S. Big Tech. Nonetheless, the bloc will reportedly step up efforts in 2026 to regulate the American giants of digital technology, with European Business Magazine writing that Brussels is preparing for “aggressive enforcement of Digital Markets Act and Digital Services Act.”
The EU is currently investigating X Corp. over its Grok chatbot over a number of issues. Last week, French police with Europol raided X’s offices in Paris, France, related to Grok and its alleged bad behavior when communicating with consumers.
The latest tech giant to fall under the European hammer is TikTok, which could be found to be in breach of European regulations for “addictive” features that the EU says “poses major risks” to the “mental health and wellbeing” of European children.
Photo: Unsplash
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