Brussels forces WhatsApp to allow access to AI competitors

BrusselsThe European Commission has announced that it is giving Meta, the parent company of WhatsApp, five working days to open access to competing companies in the sector and allow other artificial intelligence (AI) assistants to provide services on this messaging application. In this way, the Community executive says in a statement released this Tuesday that it will prevent the US technology company from committing "irreparable harm" to competition in a rapidly expanding sector. "There is a risk of harming competition at a key moment for the development of this market, where smaller players and new competitors can challenge large established companies," the Community executive points out.

Brussels says that Meta, also owner of the social networks Instagram and Facebook, has a "dominant position" in the sector of "communication applications" in the European Union market and assures that it has "abused" this situation by "preventing" artificial intelligence assistants from competing companies from using and providing services on WhatsApp for Business. This is a restriction that the European Commission says Meta began to apply on October 15 last year.

Shortly after, Brussels reprimanded the US company and urged it to backtrack. Meta then heeded the European Commission's request, although it now charges a fee in exchange for providing access that it had previously allowed for free. "Charging a fee is in practice equivalent to the previous access ban," the Community executive says in the statement.

Possible millionaire fine

If Meta decides not to take the measures requested by Brussels within five working days, the EU authorities recall that European Union regulations provide for the application of economic sanctions to the US company equivalent to 10% of its global turnover from the previous year, which in 2025 was 60,460 million dollars, about 52,200 million euros, meaning the fine would be around 5,220 million euros if it were to be applied. If it continues to infringe EU law, the European Commission can impose periodic fines on Meta that can amount to 5% of its global turnover.