EU Orders Meta to Restore Free WhatsApp Access for Rival AI Chatbots

What Changed in WhatsApp's Policy

The dispute centers on an October 2025 update to Meta's WhatsApp Business Solution Terms. The new policy prohibited third-party providers from using the WhatsApp Business API if their primary offering was an AI chatbot or assistant . While Meta's own "Meta AI" tool retained full access, rival services—which had previously built integrations for customer communication—were effectively banned from the platform starting January 15, 2026 .

The Investigation Timeline

The regulatory response built steadily over several months:

• December 4, 2025: The European Commission opened a formal antitrust investigation under Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), which prohibits the abuse of a dominant market position . The probe covered the European Economic Area, with Italy pursuing a parallel case through its own competition authority, the AGCM .
• December 24, 2025: Italy's AGCM separately ordered Meta to halt the contractual terms barring rival AI chatbots, intensifying the pressure even before the main EU case progressed .
• February 9, 2026: The Commission issued a formal Statement of Objections to Meta, warning that the policy appeared to be an abuse of dominance and threatening interim measures to prevent "serious and irreparable harm to competition" .
• March 5, 2026: Meta offered a voluntary concession—a one-year window that would allow rival AI chatbots to access WhatsApp, but on a paid basis. The Commission swiftly rejected this as insufficient, viewing the fee structure as simply a new form of exclusion .
• April 15, 2026: A Supplementary Statement of Objections was sent to Meta, formally notifying the company of the Commission's intention to impose interim measures requiring free, unconditional access. The Commission's preliminary view was that paid access had effects equivalent to the original ban .
• June 9, 2026: The final interim measures order was issued, demanding that Meta restore free access for rival general-purpose AI assistants within five working days .

The Legal Foundation

The Commission's authority to act stems from Article 102 of the TFEU, which bans the abuse of a dominant position, combined with its procedural power under EU antitrust regulations to impose interim measures when there is a risk of "serious and irreparable harm to competition" before a final decision can be made .

What's at Stake for Meta

If Meta fails to comply, the consequences are substantial. The Commission can impose periodic penalty payments for each day of non-compliance, and in the most serious cases, fines can reach up to 10% of Meta's global annual turnover . With regulators publicly confirming they will enforce the order with "heavy fines," the financial risk is significant . Meta has stated it will appeal the order, accusing the EU of "regulatory overreach" .

The Companies Behind the Complaints

While the European Commission does not publicly name all complainants due to procedural confidentiality, multiple reports have identified the key filers whose formal complaints triggered the investigation . The list includes:

• The Interaction Company of California, developer of the Poke.com AI assistant.
• Agentik, a French AI startup.
• An unnamed Spanish rival AI provider .

Separately, early reports and analyses also identified OpenAI (maker of ChatGPT), along with services like Microsoft Copilot and Perplexity, as prominent AI assistants that were cut off from WhatsApp when the new terms took effect . The collective complaint alleged that Meta was leveraging its control of WhatsApp's massive user base—a key customer communication channel—to unfairly disadvantage competitors in the AI assistant market in favor of its own Meta AI tool .