The European Union on Tuesday ordered Meta to give rival AI chatbots free access to its WhatsApp platform within five working days as it conducts an antitrust investigation, or face a hefty fine.
The move follows the launch in December of an EU investigation into the US firm’s policy of blocking access to AI providers other than Meta AI.
The European Commission, the EU’s digital watchdog, said Meta will have to maintain access to competitors until Brussels completes its investigation.
“Today we are demanding that Meta restore access to WhatsApp for competing AI assistants while we investigate whether the restrictions may violate EU competition rules,” EU antitrust commissioner Teresa Ribera said in a statement.
“This will prevent serious and irreparable damage to competition in this growing market by Meta’s conduct, which prima facie violates EU competition rules,” the commission said in a statement.
The EU had warned Meta that it faced interim measures if it did not open up WhatsApp to rival AI assistants in February. The company then introduced an access fee – a measure rejected by the EU in April as unsatisfactory.
Traditional antitrust investigations can take years, and European officials believe the rulings, often fines, come too late to see any positive change to address the damage already done.
The EU’s goal is for Meta to reinstate third-party AI assistants’ access to WhatsApp on the same terms as before its policy change in October 2025, when it “effectively” blocked them.
The commission said it has the power to impose a fine of up to 10% of the company’s total turnover in the financial year preceding the infringement if Meta “either intentionally or negligently” contravenes the provisional measures decision.
Protection of a “growing market”
Brussels said the fee offered earlier this year “at first sight” was “in practice equivalent to the previous ban”.
The commission described an “urgent need” to protect a “growing market for general purpose AI assistants” and make room for smaller players and new entrants to challenge large incumbents.
There is no legal deadline for the EU’s investigation to be completed.
The commission has had several run-ins with Meta as part of a broader crackdown on abusive Big Tech practices.
In April, EU regulators found that Meta failed to keep under-13s off its Facebook and Instagram platforms in breach of the bloc’s digital content rules.
As part of the same investigation, EU regulators are looking into how Meta protects users’ physical and mental well-being, as well as the “addictive” design of Facebook and Instagram.
Meta has also appealed a 200 million euro ($231 million) fine imposed last year by the European Union under the online competition law, the Digital Markets Act (DMA).
DMA is not popular across the Atlantic, with neither the US administration under President Donald Trump nor the American giants themselves.
Apple criticized the law on Monday when it blamed the DMA for its delayed rollout of the AI-enhanced voice assistant Siri, which the EU flatly rejected.
