The European Commission is still objecting to WhatsApp’s parent company, Meta, on its AI assistant policy for third parties on the popular messaging app, confirming the objections it raised in previous months.
The Commission is investigating a potential abuse of dominant position by Meta. The investigation started in December 2025, with a first Statement of Objection sent to the company last February. A month later, Meta sent its answer and updated its policy, but today’s decision by the Commission confirmed that it had rejected its provisions.
Currently, the investigation covers all of the European Economic Area, following the Italian antitrust investigation on the same topic, which has been absorbed into the Commission’s investigation.
Following the Commission’s first statement, Meta said it revised its policy and allowed third-party AI assistants to operate on WhatsApp. However, the Commission noted that access is still restricted, with third-party companies forced to pay for access, resulting in a situation virtually identical to the previous outright ban. “Replacing the legal ban with pricing that has a similar effect does not change our preliminary view that Meta’s conduct appears to be an abuse of its dominant position, that may seriously harm competition on the market for AI assistants,” said Teresa Ribera, Executive Vice-President of the Commission in charge of competition.
The Supplementary Statement of Objection allows Meta to address the issue raised by the Commission, and it is only a part of the ongoing investigation into the matter. The current interim measures will remain in place until the investigation is concluded. “Pushing out competitors in fast-evolving markets like AI is exactly the type of conduct that interim measures are designed to address,” commented Ribera on why the measures will remain in place.
