The European Commission has ordered Meta to restore free access to WhatsApp for rival AI assistants while it investigates whether the company abused a dominant position.
Meta had allowed third-party AI assistants to interact with WhatsApp users until January, meaning people could use tools such as ChatGPT, Perplexity and smaller services including Luzia and Poke within the messaging app, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission for a Clean, Just, and Competitive Transition Teresa Ribera said in remarks on Tuesday.
Meta announced in October last year that it would ban competing AI assistants from WhatsApp from 15 January 2026, but the Commission said the ban took effect from 15 January, leaving only Meta AI available on the platform.
The Commission said it opened an abuse of dominance investigation and issued a Statement of Objections — a formal document setting out the regulator’s concerns — on 6 March as part of interim measures proceedings.
Meta then said it would allow rivals access again but could charge a fee.
Ribera said the fee was so high that it was not economically sustainable for competitors, meaning access remained blocked in practice for all AI assistants except Meta’s own.
### Interim measures to stay until the case ends
The interim measures will remain in place until the investigation is completed or, at the latest, until June 2029, Ribera stated.
She added the Commission is requiring Meta to return to the approach it used until January, and that it is not asking the company to implement a new technical solution.
There are about 6,700 AI start-ups in Europe, Ribera said.
Half of the complainants in the case are AI companies from the United States.
