EU Orders Meta to Open WhatsApp to Rival AI Chatbots—Meta Calls It ‘Regulatory Overreach’

The European Fee ordered Meta on Monday to provide rival AI chatbots free entry to WhatsApp’s enterprise messaging instruments, escalating an antitrust combat that started when Meta blocked rivals from its platform final October, Reuters reports.

Fee Government Vice President Teresa Ribera mentioned the interim measures would stay in place at some point of the investigation, which began in December 2025. “In quickly evolving markets, competitors will be misplaced lengthy earlier than a closing determination is adopted,” she mentioned in a statement.

The order requires Meta to reinstate entry for third-party general-purpose AI assistants to the WhatsApp Enterprise API below the identical phrases that existed earlier than the ban.

Meta known as the choice “regulatory overreach” and mentioned it will enchantment. “The European Fee has determined that OpenAI and a number of the largest corporations on this planet can use the paid-for WhatsApp Enterprise product totally free,” the corporate mentioned in a press release to Reuters. “That is regulatory overreach subsidised by the numerous European corporations that pay. We are going to enchantment.”

The Fee started its probe after Meta modified its coverage to permit solely Meta AI on WhatsApp whereas blocking competing chatbots from the Enterprise API. The coverage shift took impact January 15, although present AI suppliers had already been minimize off since October of 2025. The investigation facilities on whether or not Meta abused its dominant place in European messaging markets by reserving WhatsApp’s AI entry for itself.

Ribera emphasized the choice “preserved alternative for residents throughout Europe on the AI assistants they need to use with WhatsApp, with out that call being made for them.” Non-compliance may set off fines as much as 10% of Meta’s complete international turnover.

The row highlights a broader rigidity: AI corporations need distribution on messaging platforms with billions of customers, whereas platform homeowners need to monetize that entry. A separate study from IMDEA Networks Institute in Might discovered that ChatGPT, Claude, Grok, and Perplexity all share consumer knowledge with third-party trackers together with Meta, Google, and TikTok—even when customers decide out. Grok was the worst offender: Visitor conversations are public by default, and TikTok’s tracker acquired webcam picture metadata.

Meta has 5 working days to adjust to the Fee’s order whereas it plans its enchantment.