The European Commission has sent Meta a supplementary charge sheet saying it intends to order the company to restore third-party AI assistants’ access to WhatsApp on the same terms as before a policy change made on 15 October 2025.
The step forms part of an ongoing EU antitrust investigation into whether Meta abused a dominant position by restricting access to WhatsApp for third-party, general-purpose AI assistants — tools that can answer questions and carry out tasks for users, the Commission said in a statement on Wednesday night.
A formal case was opened on 4 December 2025, and Meta was sent an earlier statement of objections on 9 February 2026 setting out the Commission’s preliminary view that EU competition rules were breached by excluding third-party assistants from interacting with WhatsApp users.
Meta responded on 2 March 2026, and then announced changes on 4 March 2026 that reversed the ban but introduced a fee for third-party AI assistants to access WhatsApp.
Fee-based access ‘equivalent’ to a ban, Commission says
The Commission said it has preliminarily found that charging for access has the same effect as the earlier restriction, and could block competitors from entering or expanding in the market for AI assistants.
It informed it now plans to impose interim measures — temporary orders used while an investigation continues — to prevent what it described as “serious and irreparable harm” to competition, with the measures remaining in place until a final decision is reached.
In a separate decision taken with Italy’s competition authority, the Commission said it has expanded its investigation to cover Italy as well, meaning its findings will now cover the whole European Economic Area.
The Commission added that sending the supplementary statement does not prejudge the outcome of the investigation, and Meta will have the opportunity to respond.
