The European Commission has notified Meta that, in its view, the U.S. tech giant is breaching EU antitrust rules. Brussels claims Meta has blocked third‑party developers from using AI on WhatsApp, while at the same time offering its own AI service, “Meta AI” on the platform. According to the Commission, this practice would prevent competitors from entering or expanding in the fast‑growing market for AI assistants.
Under the leadership of Ursula von der Leyen, the Commission plans to impose interim measures to stop the changes to the WhatsApp Business Solution Terms-effective in October 2025-from inflicting serious, irreversible harm to the market. Meta, however, still has a chance to respond to the allegations and defend itself.
“Artificial intelligence delivers incredible innovations to consumers, including the emerging market for AI assistants” said Teresa Ribera, EU competition commissioner. “We must protect effective competition in this dynamic sector, which means we cannot allow dominant technology firms to abuse their market power for unfair advantage. As the AI markets evolve rapidly, we must act swiftly. For this reason, we are considering imposing urgent temporary measures on Meta to ensure competitors can access WhatsApp during the ongoing investigation and to prevent Meta’s new policy from irreparably damaging competition in Europe”.