Meta is facing increasing pressure from European regulators, after antitrust authorities in the European Union issued a temporary order to the company to allow artificial intelligence-powered chat services belonging to competing companies to use the WhatsApp platform for free, until the completion of ongoing investigations into its business practices.

European investigations into competition in the artificial intelligence market
The decision came after complaints filed by several European companies working in the field of artificial intelligence, in which Meta was accused of exploiting its influence in the instant messaging market to restrict competitors’ access to WhatsApp Business services. According to the report, the European Commission opened an official investigation in December 2025, following complaints from companies including The Interaction Company, developer of the smart assistant Poke.com, along with Agentik and another Spanish competitor.

Meta blocked competitors and then imposed high fees
Meta had blocked competing artificial intelligence services from accessing the WhatsApp Business API in October 2025, while exempting its own assistant “meta ai” from these restrictions. Later, the company allowed competitors to use the platform, but imposed fees that the European Commission considered too high to make competition economically unviable.

Teresa Ribera said that the fees imposed by Meta cannot be borne by competing companies, stressing that the company’s justifications were not convincing, and added that current indicators suggest that Meta seeks to exploit the widespread spread and dominance of WhatsApp to support its own smart assistant and exclude competitors from the market, at a time when the artificial intelligence sector is witnessing rapid growth within Europe.

The decision lasts until 2029 or the end of the investigation
Under the temporary decision, Meta will commit to providing free access to WhatsApp for competing artificial intelligence services, including those affiliated with OpenAI, until the end of the investigations or until June 2029, whichever comes first. But for its part, Meta criticized the European Commission’s decision, stressing that the authorities are forcing it to provide a paid commercial service to competitors for free. The company indicated that it intends to challenge and appeal the decision, considering that the measure harms its business model and undermines its ability to generate revenues from services. WhatsApp Business.