The European Commission (EC) announced Monday (Feb. 9) that it sent a statement of objections to the tech giant, stating the watchdog’s “preliminary view” that Meta breached EU antitrust rules by preventing third-party AI assistants from accessing WhatsApp.
The commission said in its announcement that it plans to impose “interim measures to prevent this policy change from causing serious and irreparable harm on the market, subject to Meta’s reply and rights of defence.”
According to the EC, its action stems from an update Meta made to its WhatsApp Business Solution Terms in October, which the commission said effectively banned third-party general-purpose AI assistants from the application.
Since Jan. 15, the only AI assistant available on WhatsApp is Meta AI, while rival companies have been excluded. The commission began investigating the issue in December.
In a statement provided to PYMNTS, a spokesperson for Meta said there is no reason for the commission to intervene in the WhatsApp Business API.
“There are many AI options and people can use them from app stores, operating systems, devices, websites, and industry partnerships,” the statement said.
“The Commission’s logic incorrectly assumes the WhatsApp Business API is a key distribution channel for these chatbots.”
The company also notes that the same issue was dismissed when it came before a court in Brazil. Meta has said that the rise of AI chatbots placed a strain on the WhatsApp Business API that it was not created to support.
The regulatory showdown comes as — per PYMNTS Intelligence data — consumers are showing interest in using autonomous AI assistants for everyday planning, even as a sizable number of people remain cautious about relinquishing control.
The research found that a third of consumers would be interested in an autonomous AI assistant dealing with at least some of their everyday planning, indicating early but notable demand for agentic AI in personal contexts.
“The data suggests the next phase of consumer AI adoption will hinge less on conversation and more on trust, task specificity and perceived value,” PYMNTS wrote in December.
“At the same time, resistance remains strong among holdouts. About 44% of consumers who currently do not use conversational AI say they would not allow an autonomous AI agent to perform any personal task included in the survey,” that report added.
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