Messaging platform faces EU antitrust scrutiny over AI restrictions

The Commission said it had opened the investigation into Meta, under article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU), after the technology firm said it would prevent AI providers from using a WhatsApp Business Solution tool – which enables businesses to communicate with customers – when AI is the primary service being offered.

The Commission is concerned that Meta’s new user terms would prevent businesses from using their own, non-Meta, AI chatbots and AI assistants on the WhatsApp platform.

Customer support functions and other uses would still be allowed as part of the new Meta policy, which is due to take effect for existing organisations on the messaging platform from January 2026, having already come into effect in October this year for any new organisations looking to enter that space.

Meta introduced its own ‘Meta AI’ tool on WhatsApp for European users earlier this year. Under the new policy, this AI tool would remain accessible to users on the WhatsApp messaging service while competing providers would be blocked.

The investigation by the Commission will cover the European Economic Area apart from Italy, where the national competition authority is already conducting its own investigation into Meta’s policies on AI tools in WhatsApp.

Teresa Ribera, the Commission’s executive vice-president for clean, just and competitive transition, said the move was in response to the growth of AI markets across Europe.

“We must ensure European citizens and businesses can benefit fully from this technological revolution and act to prevent dominant digital incumbents from abusing their power to crowd out innovative competitors,” she added.

The Commission said the investigation would be treated as a priority, with Ribera telling journalists in Brussels it could look to bring in interim measures ahead of January next year if necessary.

A WhatsApp spokesperson told Reuters the claims were “baseless” and the restrictions were being implemented because the emergence of AI chatbots on the messaging platform had put “a strain on our systems that they were not designed to support”.

The new investigation is being conducted under wider EU competition laws rather than the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), which is also being actively used by the Commission to address other potential competition concerns involving digital platforms. 

Under the DMA, the Commission has recently opened three “market investigations” to examine how DMA obligations should apply to cloud computing, including whether Amazon’s and Microsoft’s respective cloud offerings should be designated as “core platform services” under the DMA. Separately, the Commission is also carrying out several compliance enforcement investigations under the DMA and faces several legal challenges in the EU courts.