WhatsApp exempts Brazil and Italy from controversial AI chatbot ban amid antitrust scrutiny

After Italy, WhatsApp excludes Brazil from rival chatbot ban | TechCrunch

WhatsApp is allowing AI providers to continue offering their chatbots to users with Brazilian phone numbers, days after the country's competition regulator ordered the company to suspend its new policy that bars third-party, general-purpose chatbots from being offered on the app via its business API. Under the new policy, the company is providing a 90-day grace period starting January 15 to developers and AI providers, mandating them to cease responding to user queries on the chat app, and notify users that their chatbots won't work on WhatsApp. Now, Meta told developers that they don't have to notify users with Brazilian phone numbers (with code +55) of any changes or cease offering their services, per a notice to AI providers seen by TechCrunch. "The requirement to cease responding to user queries and implement pre-approved auto-reply language (mentioned below) before January 15, 2026, no longer applies when messaging people with a Brazil country code (+55)," the notice reads. WhatsApp did not immediately respond to a query seeking to confirm the decision. The policy, which goes into effect from today, impacts general-purpose chatbots like ChatGPT and Grok on the platform. Notably, the policy does not stop businesses from providing customer service via bots within WhatsApp to their customers. In its notice, Brazil's competition agency said it would investigate if Meta's terms are exclusionary to competitors and unduly favor Meta AI, the company's chatbot that's offered on WhatsApp. Meta has previously provided a similar exemption to users in Italy after the country's competition agency took issue with the policy in December. Separately, the EU has also opened an antitrust investigation into the new rules. The company has consistently maintained that AI chatbots are straining its systems that were designed for different uses of its business API. Meta has even said in the past that people who want to use different chatbots can do so outside WhatsApp. "These claims are fundamentally flawed," a WhatsApp spokesperson said in response to CADE's probe on Tuesday. "The emergence of AI chatbots on our Business API put a strain on our systems that they were not designed to support. This logic assumes WhatsApp is somehow a de facto app store. The route to market for AI companies is the app stores themselves, their websites and industry partnerships; not the WhatsApp Business Platform."

Meta to exclude Italy from rival chatbot ban on WhatsApp

BRUSSELS, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Meta Platforms (META.O), opens new tab will exclude Italy from its ban on rival AI chatbots on WhatsApp following an order from the country's antitrust authority, according to a notice sent to AI providers and developers seen by Reuters. The Italian watchdog AGCM last month ordered Meta to suspend its proposed ban while the watchdog investigates the company for suspected abuse of its market power following complaints from rivals. The European Commission too is probing Meta over whether it abused its dominance by blocking rival AI chatbots from its messaging service WhatsApp, but did not issue any interim order. Blocking other AI providers' access to WhatsApp would give a potential boost to Meta's own chatbot and virtual assistant Meta AI integrated into the platform last year. Meta, in its notice to AI providers and developers circulated early last week, said that phone numbers with an Italian country code are currently exempt from WhatsApp's updated terms of service, to comply with an order from Italian regulators. The updated terms come into effect on January 15. Meta declined to comment on the updated terms of service and referred to a statement issued late last year which said that the emergence of AI chatbots put a strain on its systems that they were not designed to support. The Italian antitrust authority declined to comment. The Interaction Company of California, which has developed AI assistant Poke.com and complained to both the Italian and EU competition regulators, criticised Meta's Italian carve-out. "Meta's move to keep enforcing its new WhatsApp API policy - shutting out AI rivals like Poke.com while only carving out +39 numbers - is deeply disappointing," Marvin von Hagen, co-founder and CEO of The Interaction Company of California, told Reuters. "The Italian authority has found Meta's conduct to be at first glance anti-competitive under EU law. Meta should have suspended the policy worldwide, not just in Italy. The (European) Commission must urgently follow Italy's lead and adopt interim measures," he said. Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Susan Fenton Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab * Suggested Topics: * Boards, Policy & Regulation * Antitrust * Regulatory Oversight Foo Yun Chee Thomson Reuters An agenda-setting and market-moving journalist, Foo Yun Chee is a 21-year veteran at Reuters. Her stories on high profile mergers have pushed up the European telecoms index, lifted companies' shares and helped investors decide on their next move. Her knowledge and experience of European antitrust laws and developments helped her break stories on Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Meta and Apple, numerous market-moving mergers and antitrust investigations. She has previously reported on Greek politics and companies, when Greece's entry into the eurozone meant it punched above its weight on the international stage, as well as on Dutch corporate giants and the quirks of Dutch society and culture that never fail to charm readers.

Meta to exclude Italy from rival chatbot ban on WhatsApp

Meta Platforms will exclude Italy from its ban on rival AI chatbots on WhatsApp following an order from the country's antitrust authority, ⁠according to a notice sent to AI providers and developers. Meta Platforms will exclude Italy from its ban on rival AI chatbots on WhatsApp following an order from the country's antitrust authority, ⁠according to a notice sent to AI providers and developers seen by Reuters. The Italian watchdog AGCM last month ordered Meta to suspend its proposed ban while the watchdog investigates the company for suspected abuse of its market power following complaints from rivals. The European Commission too is probing Meta over whether it abused its dominance by blocking rival AI chatbots from its messaging service WhatsApp, but did not issue any interim order. Blocking other AI providers' access to WhatsApp would give a potential boost to Meta's own chatbot and virtual assistant Meta AI integrated into the platform last year. Meta, in its notice to AI providers and developers circulated early last week, said that phone numbers with an Italian country code are currently exempt from WhatsApp's updated terms of service, to comply with an order from Italian regulators. The updated terms come into effect on January 15. Meta declined to comment on the updated terms of service and referred to a statement issued late last year which said that the emergence of AI chatbots put a strain on its systems that they were not designed to support. The Italian antitrust authority declined to comment. The Interaction Company of California, which has developed AI assistant Poke.com and complained to both the Italian and EU competition ⁠regulators, criticised Meta's Italian ⁠carve-out. "Meta's move to keep enforcing its new WhatsApp API policy - shutting out AI rivals like Poke.com while only carving out +39 numbers - is deeply disappointing," Marvin von Hagen, co-founder and CEO of The Interaction Company of California, told Reuters. "The Italian authority has found Meta's conduct to be at first glance anti-competitive under EU law. Meta should have suspended the policy worldwide, not just in Italy. The (European) Commission must urgently follow Italy's lead and adopt interim measures," he said.

Meta to exclude Italy from rival chatbot ban on WhatsApp

BRUSSELS, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Meta Platforms will exclude Italy from its ban on rival AI chatbots on WhatsApp following an order from the country's antitrust authority, according to a notice sent to AI providers and developers seen by Reuters. The Italian watchdog AGCM last month ordered Meta to suspend its proposed ban while the watchdog investigates the company for suspected abuse of its market power following complaints from rivals. The European Commission too is probing Meta over whether it abused its dominance by blocking rival AI chatbots from its messaging service WhatsApp, but did not issue any interim order. Blocking other AI providers' access to WhatsApp would give a potential boost to Meta's own chatbot and virtual assistant Meta AI integrated into the platform last year. Meta, in its notice to AI providers and developers circulated early last week, said that phone numbers with an Italian country code are currently exempt from WhatsApp's updated terms of service, to comply with an order from Italian regulators. The updated terms come into effect on January 15. Meta declined to comment on the updated terms of service and referred to a statement issued late last year which said that the emergence of AI chatbots put a strain on its systems that they were not designed to support. The Italian antitrust authority declined to comment. The Interaction Company of California, which has developed AI assistant Poke.com and complained to both the Italian and EU competition regulators, criticised Meta's Italian carve-out. "Meta's move to keep enforcing its new WhatsApp API policy - shutting out AI rivals like Poke.com while only carving out +39 numbers - is deeply disappointing," Marvin von Hagen, co-founder and CEO of The Interaction Company of California, told Reuters. "The Italian authority has found Meta's conduct to be at first glance anti-competitive under EU law. Meta should have suspended the policy worldwide, not just in Italy. The (European) Commission must urgently follow Italy's lead and adopt interim measures," he said. (Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Susan Fenton)