The EU has decided to take measures against Meta If you don’t go back on your decision Prevent the use of third-party AI assistants on WhatsApp. As a preliminary step, the European Commission has sent a statement of objections to the company, in which it states that they have violated the region’s antitrust rules by preventing third-party AI assistants from accessing and interacting with WhatsApp users.
This can lead to difficulties for the company’s competitors to enter or expand in the AI assistant sector. Therefore, the Commission is going to implement provisional measures to prevent this change in Meta’s policy from causing serious and irreparable damage to the market, although the company can defend itself against these accusations to try to avoid having to reverse the situation.
If, when both parties have exercised their right of defence, the Commission concludes that Meta has prevented or continues to prevent access to third-party AI assistants on WhatsApp, it may decide to impose sanctions on Meta, in addition to forcing it to reverse its decision and making the precautionary measures final.
This statement of objections affects the entire territory of the European Economic Area, except for Italy, a country in which the country’s Competition Authority already imposed provisional measures on Meta for this reason last December.
The change referred to by the European Commission occurred on October 15, when Meta updated its Terms of Use for WhatsApp Business Solution to, among other things, prohibit the use of general-purpose AI assistants developed by third parties in the application. As a result, as of January 15, 2026, the only AI assistant available on WhatsApp is Meta AI, which in principle violates EU competition rules.
According to the Commission’s findings, Meta has a dominant position in the European Economic Area for consumer communication applications, notably through WhatsApp, and is likely to be abusing this position by prohibiting other companies from accessing the application. At this point, furthermore, the Commission notes that WhatsApp is an important consumer entry point for AI assistants.
Teresa Ribera, Vice President of EU Clean, Fair and Competitive Transitionhas highlighted in this regard that «AI is bringing incredible innovations to consumers, and one of them is the emerging market for AI assistants. We must protect effective competition in this dynamic field, which means we cannot allow dominant technology companies to illegally exploit their dominant position to gain an unfair advantage. AI markets are developing at a rapid pace, so we must also act quickly. That is why we are considering quickly imposing provisional measures on Meta, in order to preserve competitors’ access to WhatsApp while the investigation is carried out, and prevent Meta’s new policy from irremediably harming competition in Europe.«.
