Brussels (Belgium) (AFP) – The EU executive told Meta on Monday that it must let rival AI chatbots use its WhatsApp platform, after an antitrust probe found the US giant to be in breach of the bloc’s competition rules. The European Commission said a change in Meta’s terms had “effectively” barred third-party artificial intelligence assistants from connecting to customers via the messaging platform since January.
Competition chief Teresa Ribera said the EU was “considering” interim measures to “avoid Meta’s new policy irreparably harming competition in Europe”. The EU executive sent Meta a warning known as a “statement of objections,” a formal step in antitrust probes, and the US giant now has a chance to reply and defend itself. Interim measures, if the commission moves ahead, could mean requiring Meta to “maintain the access of third-party AI assistance to WhatsApp under the same terms as it did before the policy change, until the end of the investigation,” a spokesman said.
Monday’s step does not prejudge the outcome of the probe. Meta rejected the preliminary findings, saying: “The facts are that there is no reason for the EU to intervene.” “There are many AI options and people can use them from app stores, operating systems, devices, websites, and industry partnerships. The commission’s logic incorrectly assumes the WhatsApp Business API is a key distribution channel for these chatbots,” a spokesperson for the tech giant said.
Opened in December, the EU probe marks the latest attempt by the 27-nation bloc to rein in Big Tech firms, many of which are based in the United States, in the face of strong pushback by the government of President Donald Trump.
Meta has integrated its own generative assistant, Meta AI, across the company’s platforms, which also include Facebook and Instagram, used by billions of people globally. Its new restrictions on rivals apply when AI is the core service offered — as with a chatbot or assistant — though firms can still use AI for support functions such as customer service via WhatsApp. EU regulators are concerned that locking WhatsApp’s more than three billion users into Meta AI could give the company a commercial advantage over rival chatbots, particularly smaller market entrants.
The investigation covers the European Economic Area (EEA), made up of the bloc’s 27 states, Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway — with the exception of Italy, which opened a separate investigation into Meta in July. The commission said Meta was “likely to be dominant” in the EEA for consumer messaging apps, notably through WhatsApp, and accused Meta of “abusing this dominant position by refusing access” to competitors.
“We cannot allow dominant tech companies to illegally leverage their dominance to give themselves an unfair advantage,” Ribera said in a statement. There is no legal deadline for concluding an antitrust probe. Meta is already under investigation under different laws in the European Union. EU regulators are also investigating Facebook and Instagram over fears they are not doing enough to tackle the risk of social media addiction for children.
The company also appealed a 200 million euro ($238 million) fine imposed last year by the commission under the online competition law, the Digital Markets Act. That case focused on its policy asking users to choose between an ad-free subscription and a free, ad-supported service, and Brussels and Meta remain in discussions over finding an alternative that would address the EU’s concerns.
© 2024 AFP
