EC Orders Meta to Allow Free Access to WhatsApp for Rival AI

The European Commission has ordered Meta to restore free access to WhatsApp for rival general-purpose AI assistants. The US company should maintain free access until the end of the antitrust investigation.

The EC said that this will prevent serious and irreparable harm to competition in this growing market by Meta's conduct, which, at first sight, infringes EU competition rules. In December 2025, the EC opened an antitrust investigation into Meta's new policy to block access for AI providers, other than Meta AI, to WhatsApp. In February 2026, the body preliminarily concluded that interim measures may be required to prevent Meta's policy change from causing serious and irreparable harm to the market.

In April 2026, the EC issued a supplementary Statement of Objections, setting out its intention to order Meta to reinstate third-party AI assistants' access to WhatsApp. The new decision concludes that interim measures are warranted to prevent serious and irreparable damage to competition in the growing market for general-purpose AI assistants. The new decision orders Meta to reinstate access for third-party general-purpose AI assistants to the WhatsApp for Business API under the same terms and conditions that were in place before 15 October 2025, when such access was notably free of charge for all such AI assistants.

Meta has to maintain access on those terms and conditions until the EC adopts a final decision on this case. The Commission stated that this is necessary to ensure the effectiveness of the competition law enforcement powers and of any final decision on the legality of Meta's conduct. Meta must comply with these measures within 5 working days. The substantive investigation on the merits of all parts of the case is still ongoing.