The European Union on Tuesday mandated Meta to grant competing AI chatbots free access to its WhatsApp platform within five business days as part of an ongoing antitrust investigation, or face substantial penalties. This directive follows an EU probe initiated in December into Meta’s policy of restricting access for AI providers other than Meta AI. The European Commission, the EU’s digital regulatory authority, stated that Meta must keep access available to competitors until the investigation concludes.
EU antitrust commissioner Teresa Ribera announced, “Today, we are demanding Meta restore access to WhatsApp for competing AI assistants while we assess if their restrictions violate EU competition laws.” The commission emphasized that this step aims to prevent serious and potentially irreversible harm to market competition caused by Meta’s conduct, which initially appeared to breach EU rules.
In February, the EU warned Meta about possible interim measures if it did not open up WhatsApp to rival AI assistants. The company responded by adding an access fee, a solution that the EU rejected earlier this year as inadequate. Traditional antitrust investigations can span several years, and EU officials often believe penalties like fines come too late to undo the damage.
The EU’s objective is for Meta to reinstate third-party AI assistant access to WhatsApp under the same conditions that existed before its October 2025 policy change, which effectively barred such integrations. The commission has the authority to impose fines of up to 10% of Meta’s total revenue from the previous business year if the company deliberately or negligently violates the interim measure order.
Brussels stressed the urgency of safeguarding a rapidly expanding market for general-purpose AI assistants, emphasizing the importance of allowing smaller companies and new entrants to challenge dominant players. The EU’s investigation has no set deadline for completion.
This probe is part of broader efforts to crack down on dominant tech firms’ potentially abusive practices. In April, regulators identified that Meta failed to prevent users under 13 from accessing Facebook and Instagram, violating EU digital content rules. The EU also examines Meta’s efforts to protect users’ mental and physical health, alongside concerns about addictive platform features.
Meta has challenged a €200 million ($231 million) fine imposed last year under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), legislation that has faced criticism both in Europe and the United States. Apple publicly criticized the DMA at the start of the week, attributing delays in launching its AI-enhanced voice assistant Siri to the law’s regulations, which the EU has rejected outright.