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The European Commission has ruled that Meta breached EU rules by blocking rival AI chatbots from accessing WhatsApp and has ordered the company to make “urgent” changes. Meta altered the messaging app on 15 January so that only its own assistant, Meta AI, could use WhatsApp’s interface; regulators say WhatsApp is an “important
entry point” for chatbots such as ChatGPT and that Meta’s move amounts to an abuse of its dominant position.
A Meta spokesperson said the EU had "no reason" to intervene, and claimed it had "incorrectly" assumed WhatsApp Business was a key way that people use chatbots.
"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 wait for Meta to formally respond to its findings, and depending on the response, it could impose "interim measures" to prevent Meta from causing "serious and irreparable harm to the market".
Mathias Vermeulen, director at AWO, a law firm working on EU digital policies, said the preliminary findings showed firms operating in the EU could not use their control over one market "to unfairly advantage themselves in another".
He said while Meta had not been found to break the law yet, if interim measures were imposed, Meta may be forced to reopen WhatsApp to third-party AI assistants.
It follows a push by the EU to investigate big tech firms through its digital laws.
It comes just three days after the Commission told TikTok it must change its "addictive design" or face heavy fines, after it found the video sharing platform had breached its online safety rules.
