The European Commission is pursuing a competition case against Meta over a policy change that blocks rival artificial intelligence assistants from operating on WhatsApp. Regulators believe Meta may have breached European Union competition rules by preventing other artificial intelligence assistants from accessing and interacting with users on the messaging platform, a move that could consolidate Meta’s power in a rapidly developing technology market.
The investigation focuses on a change Meta announced on 15 October 2025 to the WhatsApp Business Solution Terms. According to the Commission, the updated terms effectively blocked third-party, general-purpose artificial intelligence assistants from operating on WhatsApp, which had previously been a channel for various automated services. Since 15 January 2026, Meta AI has been the only artificial intelligence assistant available on the app, raising concerns that Meta is favoring its own service at the expense of competitors and business users that rely on diverse assistant options.
To address these concerns, the Commission plans to impose interim measures to stop the policy change from causing serious, long-term harm to competition while the full investigation continues. Teresa Ribera, EVP for clean, just and competitive transition, said that artificial intelligence is bringing significant innovations to consumers and that the emerging market of artificial intelligence assistants must remain competitive. She emphasized that dominant technology companies cannot be allowed to use their position to gain an unfair advantage, and argued that because artificial intelligence markets are developing rapidly, swift action is required. Ribera added that the contemplated interim measures are intended to preserve access to WhatsApp for competitors throughout the investigation and to prevent Meta’s new policy from causing lasting damage to competition in Europe.
