European Union intends to force Meta to open WhatsApp to competing AI assistants

Brussels, 09 February (QNA) - The European Commission announced today its intention to impose temporary measures on Meta, the owner of the instant messaging app WhatsApp, to force it to change its policy to allow third-party AI assistants to access WhatsApp and interact with its users.

The Commission considers that Meta has violated EU competition rules by preventing third-party AI assistants from accessing WhatsApp and interacting with its users, which would hinder competitors from entering the fast-growing AI assistant market or limit their growth within it.

The European executive body stated in a statement that it intends to "impose temporary measures to prevent this policy change from causing serious and irreparable harm to the market."

Meta provides a general AI assistant called Meta AI, but the company announced in October an update to the terms of use for WhatsApp Business which "effectively excludes third-party general AI assistants from the app."

The Commission explained that as a result, since January 15, the only AI assistant available on WhatsApp is Meta's own tool (Meta AI), noting that the messaging app WhatsApp constitutes "an important access point enabling general AI assistants to reach consumers."

Since Meta's update, companies can no longer use AI services developed by independent entities within the app.

These services were previously used in WhatsApp mainly in the form of chatbots to respond to user inquiries.