European Commission probes Meta over rules for AI providers' access to WhatsApp

BRUSSELS, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) -- The European Commission on Thursday opened a formal antitrust investigation into Meta over a new policy that could limit artificial intelligence providers' access to WhatsApp.

Meta operates several online communication and social networking services, such as WhatsApp. AI providers currently offer their conversational AI assistants through the app for tasks such as answering questions, generating content and handling customer service queries.

Although AI providers would still be allowed to use AI for ancillary or support tasks, the Commission said Meta's new policy could prohibit AI providers from using a tool that allows businesses, where AI is the primary service, to communicate with customers via WhatsApp. However, Meta's own "Meta AI" service remains available, according to a press release by the European Commission.

The Commission said that for AI providers already present on WhatsApp, the update will apply as of January 15,2026, while for AI providers new to WhatsApp, the update has already been applicable since October 15,2025.

The investigation covers the entire European Economic Area except Italy, where the national competition authority is already examining Meta's conduct and considering possible interim measures.

Meta is among the U.S. tech companies under heavy scrutiny from the European Commission. In September, the European Union fined tech giant Google 2.95 billion euros (about 3.45 billion U.S. dollars) for antitrust violations in the online advertising sector and announced a new investigation into Google in November.

The United States has repeatedly criticized the European Union's regulatory measures as being targeted at American companies. Google, Amazon, and others have recently said they will file appeals for the latest EU regulatory decisions. (1 euro = 1.17 U.S. dollars) ■