The European Commission has informed Meta that, in its view, the U.S. technology company is breaching EU competition rules. The Brussels authority asserts that Meta has excluded third‑party artificial‑intelligence providers from WhatsApp while offering its own AI service, “Meta AI”, on the platform. According to the commission, this practice would prevent rivals from entering or expanding in the rapidly growing market for AI assistants.
To halt the forthcoming amendment to the “WhatsApp Business Solution Terms” that would take effect in October 2025, the Commission-under the leadership of Ursula von der Leyen (CDU)-plans to issue interim measures. These actions aim to protect the market from damage that could be severe and irreversible. Meta, however, still has the opportunity to respond to the allegations and defend itself.
Commenting on the matter, EU Competition Commissioner Teresa Ribera said: “Artificial intelligence brings consumers incredible innovations, including the emerging AI‑assistant market. We must safeguard effective competition in this dynamic arena, which means we cannot allow dominant technology firms to illegally exploit their dominance for an unfair advantage. As AI markets evolve rapidly, we must act swiftly. For this reason, we are considering imposing urgent interim measures on Meta to grant competitors access to WhatsApp during the ongoing investigation and to prevent Meta’s new policy from irreparably harming competition in Europe”.
