EU orders WhatsApp rollback

The European Commission said on April 15 that it plans to force Meta to restore rival artificial intelligence assistants’ access to WhatsApp. (channelnewsasia.com) Brussels said Meta’s new fee for rival chatbot access may break European Union antitrust rules, even after Meta offered a revised system in March. The Commission said rival assistants should get the same WhatsApp terms that applied before Meta’s policy change on October 15, 2025. (ec.europa.eu) The case centers on the WhatsApp Business application programming interface, the software connection that lets outside services send and receive messages inside the app. Regulators said Meta’s March 4, 2026 proposal still left competitors paying to reach WhatsApp users while Meta’s own assistant kept its built-in position. (ec.europa.eu) The Commission opened a formal antitrust investigation on December 4, 2025 after Meta changed its policy for artificial intelligence providers using WhatsApp in the European Economic Area. On February 9, 2026, it sent Meta a Statement of Objections and warned that interim measures could follow. (digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu, ec.europa.eu) Interim measures are the European Union’s emergency tool in competition cases, used before a final ruling when regulators think market damage could become irreversible. The Commission said the market for artificial intelligence assistants is growing quickly and that blocking rivals now could shut them out before the case ends. (ec.europa.eu) Reuters reported that Meta argued the Commission was trying to redesign its product and said companies such as OpenAI could still distribute assistants through their own apps. Meta said the regulator’s approach would force it to give rivals access on terms that did not reflect its costs. (msn.com) European regulators are treating messaging platforms as gateways to newer artificial intelligence services, not just chat apps. That puts WhatsApp, with its huge user base, at the center of a fight over whether platform owners can favor their own assistants as people start using chat windows like search boxes and help desks. (apnews.com, digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu) The Commission has not issued a final antitrust decision, but its April 15 filing shows Brussels is prepared to move faster than usual while the investigation continues. For now, the European Union is telling Meta that charging rivals to get back into WhatsApp is not enough. (channelnewsasia.com, ec.europa.eu)