The European Commission says Meta's dominance in messaging gives it no right to block or charge competitors for WhatsApp API access
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The European Commission ordered Meta $META Platforms to restore free access to the WhatsApp for Business API for rival AI assistant providers, saying the company's policy change risked serious and permanent harm to competition in the AI market. Meta said it would appeal.
The Commission said Meta must reinstate the terms and conditions that were in place before Oct. 15, 2025, when the company banned third-party general-purpose AI assistants from the WhatsApp for Business API while keeping its own Meta AI service available. Meta must comply within five working days, and the interim measure will remain in effect until the Commission concludes its antitrust investigation or until June 2029, whichever comes first.
Three companies — including The Interaction Company of California, the developer behind the Poke.com AI assistant, French AI startup Agentik, and an unnamed Spanish competitor — filed complaints that led the Commission to launch its antitrust investigation in Dec. 2025, according to Reuters. After issuing its initial charges in Feb. 2026, the Commission followed up with a second round of charges in April, prompted by Meta's decision to charge rivals for API access rather than restore the original terms. Regulators said the fee was in practice equivalent to the previous ban.
At a press conference, E.U. Commission Executive Vice-President Teresa Ribera offered a pointed assessment of Meta's conduct. "It seems that Meta expects to leverage the vast reach and likely dominance of WhatsApp to benefit its own AI assistant and to foreclose rivals," she said. She added: "AI markets are developing exceptionally fast and AI systems are expected to become an important way for consumers all across Europe to access and use AI."
In a statement responding to the order, Meta accused regulators of going too far. "The E.U. Commission has decided that OpenAI and some of the largest companies in the world can use the paid-for WhatsApp Business product for free," the company said. "This is regulatory overreach subsidized by the many European companies that pay."
Regulators concluded on a preliminary basis that Meta has occupied a dominant position in the consumer communications market across the European Economic Area since no later than January 2023, and that its exclusion of rival AI assistants from the WhatsApp for Business API amounted to withdrawing access to infrastructure that had previously been available to outside parties.
The Commission noted this is only the second time it has imposed interim measures under the relevant regulation, following a similar action against Broadcom $AVGO in 2009. Non-compliance would expose Meta to penalties reaching 10% of its total annual turnover, and the Commission retains authority to levy daily fines of up to 5% of average daily turnover to force adherence.
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