Meta Platforms (META) has been ordered by the European Commission to restore and maintain free access to WhatsApp for rival general-purpose artificial intelligence assistants until the end of its antitrust investigation, the regulator said in a statement.
The Commission said Meta must reinstate access for third-party AI assistants to the WhatsApp for Business API on the same terms as before Oct. 15, 2025, when access was free, and comply within five working days while the broader investigation continues.
"Today's measures will remain in place until our investigation is done or, at the latest, until June 2029, three years from now," EU competition chief Teresa Ribera said Monday, adding that the regulator is not asking Meta to implement new or technically burdensome changes, but simply to return to the previous setup in place until January this year.
"The European Commission has decided that OpenAI and some of the largest companies in the world can use the paid-for WhatsApp Business product for free. This is regulatory overreach subsidised by the many European companies that pay. We will appeal," a Meta spokesperson told.
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