The European Union has threatened to take “interim measures” urgently against the American company “Meta” if it does not open the “WhatsApp” application to competing artificial intelligence companies.
The European Union threatened, on Monday, to take “interim measures” urgently against the American company “Meta” if it does not open the “WhatsApp” application to competing artificial intelligence companies.
The European Commission opened an investigation at the end of 2025 into the possibility of “Meta” violating competition rules, concluding that the company likely exploited its advantage and prevented its competitors from benefiting from the WhatsApp application, thereby boosting its own “Meta AI” tool.
On Monday, the Commission announced its intention to “impose interim measures to prevent this change from causing serious, irreparable harm.” It was stated, “We must protect effective competition in this dynamic sector.”
The origin of this case is that the “WhatsApp” application announced last October a change in its terms of use, meaning companies could no longer use it to access AI services designed by other parties. These services were often used in the form of chatbots via the application, or to respond to user inquiries.
Meta: We did not violate European competition rules
In response to an inquiry, “Meta” denied these accusations, stating that it did not violate European competition rules.
A company spokesperson said, “The EU has no justification to intervene in this matter. There are many AI options that people can access through app stores and websites.”
They believed the European Commission’s logic was “flawed,” as it treats a messaging app as a “primary distribution channel for chatbots.”
