On Tuesday, the EU ordered Meta to give rival AI chatbots free access to its WhatsApp platform within five working days while it conducts an antitrust investigation, or risk a hefty fine.
The move follows the launch in December of an EU investigation into the US company’s policy of blocking access to AI providers other than Meta AI.
The European Commission, the EU’s digital watchdog, said Meta will have to maintain access to its competitors until Brussels concludes its investigation.
“Today we demand Meta restore access to WhatsApp for competing AI assistants while we investigate whether the restrictions may infringe EU competition rules,” EU antitrust commissioner Teresa Ribera said in a statement.
“This will prevent serious and irreparable harm to competition in this growing market from Meta’s conduct, which prima facie breaches EU competition rules,” the commission said in a statement.
The EU had warned Meta that it would face interim measures if it did not open WhatsApp to rival AI assistants in February. The company then introduced an access fee, a remedy the EU rejected in April as unsatisfactory.
Traditional antitrust investigations can take years and European officials believe the decisions, often fines, come too late to see any positive changes to address the damage already caused.
The EU’s goal is for Meta to restore third-party AI assistants’ access to WhatsApp under the same conditions as before its October 2025 policy change, when it “effectively” banned them.
The commission said it has the power to impose a fine of up to 10% of the company’s total turnover in the business year preceding the infringement if Meta “intentionally or negligently” contravenes the decision on provisional measures.
Protect a ‘growing market’
Brussels said the tariff offered earlier this year “at first glance” was “in practice equivalent to the previous access ban.”
The commission described an “urgent need” to protect a “growing market for general-purpose AI assistants” and make room for smaller players and new entrants to challenge the big players.
There is no legal deadline for the EU investigation to end.
The commission has had several clashes with Meta as part of a broader crackdown on abusive Big Tech practices.
In April, EU regulators found that Meta was failing to keep children under 13 off its Facebook and Instagram platforms, in violation of the bloc’s digital content rules.
As part of that same investigation, EU regulators are investigating how Meta protects users’ physical and mental well-being, as well as the “addictive” design of Facebook and Instagram.
Meta also appealed a 200 million euro ($231 million) fine imposed last year by the EU under online competition law, the Digital Markets Act (DMA).
The DMA is not popular on the other side of the Atlantic, neither with the US administration of President Donald Trump nor with the US giants themselves.
Apple criticized the law on Monday when it blamed the DMA for the delay in the launch of the AI-enhanced Siri voice assistant, which the EU roundly rejected.
