EU probes Meta after WhatsApp kicked rival AIs off platform

The European Commission has opened an antitrust probe into Meta after WhatsApp rewrote its rules to block rival AI chatbots including OpenAI's ChatGPT and Microsoft's Copilot.

The problem is a WhatsApp policy update that bars AI providers from using the platform's business API (the WhatsApp Business Solution) to make their AI technologies the primary service on offer. Services like automated customer support remain allowed when AI is only incidental or ancillary, but "providing, delivering, offering, selling, or otherwise making available" such technologies via the WhatsApp Business Solution is prohibited when they are the main functionality being made available.

The update was made in October 2025 and will apply to AI providers already on the platform from January 15, 2026.

The result has been an exodus of providers. On October 21, OpenAI directed users to the ChatGPT app, noting that more than 50 million users had used ChatGPT on WhatsApp. "We would have much preferred to continue serving you on WhatsApp," said the cash bonfire, before blaming the policy and terms change for the move.

In November, Microsoft followed suit. It said, "Copilot on WhatsApp has helped millions of people connect with their AI companion in a familiar, everyday setting," but a transition was needed due to WhatsApp's policy change.

The EC said in a press release that "As a result of the new policy, competing AI providers may be blocked from reaching their customers through WhatsApp. On the other hand, Meta's own AI service 'Meta AI' would remain accessible to users on the platform."

A WhatsApp spokesperson told The Register: "The claims are baseless."

The spokesperson went on to point out that the company's systems were not designed to handle the load placed on them by AI chatbots through the Business API, and that, regardless, there was more than enough competition in the AI space.

That is something for the EC to decide. Teresa Ribera, EC Executive VP for Clean, Just and Competitive Transition, agreed that the AI market was indeed booming. However, "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 said in the EC's release.

The investigation's opening wasn't surprising, given WhatsApp's size and the impact of the new rules on rival AI providers. The effect of the change is to prevent third-party AI providers from offering general-purpose chatbots through the WhatsApp Business Solution, leaving Meta AI as the only consumer-facing, general-purpose assistant available on the platform.

The EU has been working to curb the excesses of the tech giants, prompting US President Donald Trump to threaten retaliatory tariffs on any nation that dared to impose regulation on US tech companies.

Trump has yet to comment on the EC's WhatsApp announcement through his usual social media orifices. ®