EU moves to curb WhatsApp AI limits

The European Commission is moving to force Meta to reopen WhatsApp to rival artificial intelligence assistants after rejecting Meta’s paid-access fix. (ec.europa.eu, politico.eu) Brussels sent Meta a fresh charge sheet on April 14, 2026, saying third-party assistants should get access on the same terms that applied before Meta changed its policy on October 15, 2025. The Commission had already opened a formal antitrust investigation on December 4, 2025. (ec.europa.eu, digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu) The case centers on WhatsApp’s business interface, the software pipe companies use to message users at scale. The Commission says Meta’s October terms effectively banned outside general-purpose assistants, and that since January 15, 2026, Meta AI has been the only assistant available inside WhatsApp. (ec.europa.eu) Meta tried to soften that policy on March 4, 2026 by letting rivals back in for a fee for 12 months in Europe. TechCrunch reported prices ranging from €0.0490 to €0.1323 per non-template message, which can add up quickly in long chatbot conversations. (techcrunch.com) The Commission said that price plan still looked “effectively equivalent” to a ban. Competition chief Teresa Ribera said replacing a legal ban with pricing that has a similar effect does not change the agency’s preliminary view that Meta may be abusing a dominant position. (politico.eu) The legal theory is straightforward: if one company controls a major route to users, it cannot use that gate to shut out adjacent rivals while favoring its own service. The Commission’s February filing said WhatsApp is likely dominant in consumer communications in the European Economic Area and called it an “important entry point” for artificial intelligence assistants to reach consumers. (ec.europa.eu) That is why Brussels is talking about interim measures, a faster tool used before a final antitrust ruling. The Commission said those temporary steps are justified only when there is an urgent risk of “serious and irreparable harm” to competition. (ec.europa.eu) Meta says the market is still crowded and users can reach rival assistants through app stores, search engines, email services, partnerships, and operating systems. Company spokesperson Joshua Breckman said the Commission was trying to let large companies use the paid WhatsApp Business product for free, and said “a small bakery in France” should not be “picking up the tab for OpenAI.” (politico.eu) European regulators outside Brussels have already acted. Italy’s competition authority ordered Meta on December 24, 2025 to suspend the WhatsApp terms in Italy, and Brazil’s competition authority opened an inquiry and imposed an interim suspension on January 12, 2026. (en.agcm.it, gov.br) Meta can still answer the Commission before any interim order is finalized. But Brussels has now made clear that charging rivals to return to WhatsApp will not, by itself, close this case. (ec.europa.eu, politico.eu)