EU Plans to Order Meta to Change WhatsApp AI Policy During Antitrust Probe -- Update

Published: 2026-04-15 10:39:42 ET META

Published on 04/15/2026 at 10:39 am EDT

By Edith Hancock

The EU plans to order Meta Platforms to reverse a policy that officials say effectively bans rival artificial-intelligence chatbots from using its WhatsApp messaging platform as the regulator advances an antitrust investigation into the company.

"The Commission intends to impose interim measures to prevent these policy changes from causing serious and irreparable harm on the market, subject to Meta's reply and rights of defense," the European Commission said Wednesday. The injunction would be in place until it finishes its probe, the commission added.

Meta offered to let competing AI assistants use its WhatsApp business software for a fee last month in a bid to appease the commission--a move that the EU executive said still raises concerns.

Meta announced an update of its WhatsApp business terms last year that effectively banned third-party general-purpose AI assistants from using a tool to talk to users on the platform, prompting scrutiny from antitrust authorities in a number of countries.

The European Commission launched its own investigation in December.

"Pushing out competitors in fast-evolving markets like AI is exactly the type of conduct that interim measures are designed to address," Teresa Ribera, the EU's top competition enforcer, said Wednesday. "This is why we continue our proceedings towards interim measures, which would reinstate full access for rival AI assistants to WhatsApp until we have analyzed the matter in full."

A Meta spokesperson said the commission is proposing to use its regulatory powers to enable some of the world's largest companies to use its WhatsApp business product for free.

Write to Edith Hancock at [email protected]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

04-15-26 1038ET