Meta Platforms has offered rival AI chatbot companies, including OpenAI, which owns ChatGPT, free access to its social messaging service WhatsApp in Europe for a limited period. This comes as the company is trying to appease European Union (EU) regulators, who are becoming increasingly strict with rules for big tech companies.
As reported by Reuters on Tuesday, May 19, the tech and social media giant, led by CEO Mark Zuckerberg, submitted its proposal to EU antitrust regulators last week after the European Commission said it might order the company to allow rival firms to access WhatsApp during its ongoing investigation. Neither Meta nor the EU shared details about the proposal.
Under the proposal, rival AI chatbots would be allowed to use WhatsApp's business Application Programming Interface (API) for free up to a certain limit. Once they cross that limit, Meta plans to charge them, people who are familiar with the matter told the agency. Interested parties were asked to submit feedback to the Commission on Meta's proposal by May 18.
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The case highlights that EU regulators want to keep new digital markets open and competitive by stopping big tech companies from becoming too powerful or blocking small competitors. While the European Commission has refused to comment on the matter, it said its main goal is to keep the fast-growing AI assistant market open and fair for companies developing new technology. Meanwhile, Meta said earlier that it had already given competing AI chatbot services in Europe free access to WhatsApp's business API, a tool that allows different software applications to interact and share data, for one month while it resolved issues with EU regulators.
However, some smaller AI firms said Meta's offer does not solve the issue. California-based The Interaction Company, which develops the Poke.com AI assistant, said, "Unfortunately, Meta's current proposal is far from resolving any of the competition concerns identified in this case."
French startup Agentik also criticised the plan. Founder Jeremy Andre said that the proposal treats rivals unfairly because Meta's own AI assistant would not face the same conditions. Meta has said its AI chatbot does not use WhatsApp's API.
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