EU Launches Antitrust Probe Into Meta For Integrating AI Bot Into WhatsApp

The European Union has opened an antitrust investigation into Meta Platforms over potentially breaching the EU's competition rules due to the integration of the AI chatbot into WhatsApp.

The feature was available in Europe from March 2025. It is being investigated by the EU to determine whether packaging its AI chat bot with WhatsApp bars other companies from offering their AI services.

"The commission is concerned that such new policy may prevent third party AI providers from offering their services through WhatsApp in the European Economic Area," the EU said in a press release on Thursday.

The European governing body cited Meta's WhatsApp Business Application Programming Interface terms, which may block third party AI providers from reaching their customers through WhatsApp.

Italy has opened a similar investigation into WhatsApp due to similar reasons in the month prior, leading to the EU's investigation not covering the country to avoid overlap. Italy had previously reported collaborating with the EU on the issue.

"The formal investigation will cover the EEA except for Italy. This is to avoid an overlap with the Italian Competition Authority's ongoing proceedings for the possible imposition of interim measures concerning Meta's conduct," the EU said.

A WhatsApp spokesperson stated that they find the claims to be "baseless" and added that the messaging platform is facing a "strain it cannot support" with the advent of chatbots on their platforms.

They added that the AI space is a "highly competitive" place and there are a variety of ways in which people access AI services, naming app stores, search engines, email services, partnership integrations and operating systems as avenues for this.

The EU investigation will be held in accordance with traditional antitrust norms instead of their Digital Markets Act, which they had used to probe Amazon and Microsoft's cloud services to determine whether they will be "gatekeepers" that require news norms to regulate them.

Meta has shown up in the EU's crosshairs in the past, due to other incidents, such as being investigated for its alleged failure to monitor and keep illegal content in check, for which the EU issued preliminary findings in October 2025.

The findings reported ineffective reporting mechanisms, as well as "dark patterns" which make the reporting process difficult. The EU also flagged a lack of viable avenues to appeal content moderation decisions in its findings.