Meta offers rival AI chatbots limited free WhatsApp access after EU pressure mounts

Meta offers rival AI chatbots a limited free pass into WhatsApp, on Brussels' terms

After January's blanket ban and March's $0.0625-per-message fee, Meta has filed a fresh European Commission proposal: free WhatsApp access for OpenAI, Perplexity, and others, up to a usage cap, then a fee. Meta has filed a fresh European Commission proposal that would give rival AI chatbots, including OpenAI's ChatGPT, Perplexity, Anthropic's Claude and others, free access to WhatsApp in Europe up to a usage threshold, then start charging beyond it, Reuters reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter. The proposal was submitted last week after the European Commission signalled it was considering a formal order forcing Meta to open WhatsApp to third-party AI services under the Digital Markets Act. Meta blocked all third-party AI assistants on WhatsApp on 15 January, an action that affected ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, Perplexity, and several smaller third-party assistants that had built distribution inside the messaging app. The blanket ban triggered antitrust attention in both Brussels and Brazil. Meta partially relented in March, agreeing to open WhatsApp to rival chatbots but at a $0.0625-per-message fee, a structure both regulators and the affected AI companies treated as commercially prohibitive. The new proposal is the third iteration of the same posture. Free access up to a usage cap is the structure that regulators across multiple jurisdictions have been pushing for since the original ban. Meta is attempting to land a compromise that satisfies the European Commission's antitrust review without entirely abandoning the per-message-revenue framework it tried to introduce in March. The Commission is reviewing the proposal alongside the broader Digital Markets Act gatekeeper obligations workstream. What the new structure actually delivers in practice depends on the cap. Meta's submission may also include a one-month preferential access window for rival companies to integrate with WhatsApp's developer infrastructure before pricing takes effect. If the threshold is high enough to allow normal consumer use without triggering the fee, the proposal materially changes the competitive dynamics of the European AI-chatbot market. If it is calibrated to trigger the fee within days, the proposal is functionally a rebadge of the March position. The stakes for the affected AI companies are significant. WhatsApp has roughly 2bn monthly active users globally and approximately 500m monthly active users in Europe; the platform is, in regions like Brazil, India, and parts of the Mediterranean, the default consumer messaging infrastructure. Direct chatbot distribution inside WhatsApp has been an established product category for several years and Perplexity and ChatGPT have been individually accessible inside the app even during periods when the blanket ban was supposed to be in effect. The fact that the ban has not produced a clean technical shutdown is part of what has given the regulators leverage in the current negotiation. The wider Digital Markets Act context is the part this story sits inside. The European Commission has been running a comparable enforcement track against Apple over App Store anti-steering and adjacent gatekeeper-platform questions, and the WhatsApp case is structurally similar: a dominant platform whose interoperability obligations under the DMA cut against the platform's own commercial incentive to favour first-party AI products. Meta's first-party AI product, Meta AI, sits inside WhatsApp by default; every consumer interaction the platform routes to Meta AI is a consumer interaction not routed to OpenAI or Perplexity. The Commission's posture, on the available evidence, is that the DMA's interoperability obligations apply to that competitive trade specifically. The competitive read for the agent-distribution category is sharper. Dust's $40m Series B landed earlier this month on a thesis that the AI agent that wins is the one with frictionless distribution inside the user's existing communication surface. Whether OpenAI, Perplexity and Anthropic can build sustainable economics around WhatsApp-routed consumer AI usage depends on where the Commission lands the cap. Meta did not respond to Reuters' request for comment. The Commission's review timeline is not public but is, on standard Article 8 DMA cadence, expected to produce a formal decision inside the next several months. The previous January-to-March cycle, documented in industry coverage, suggests the operative compromise can move quickly once both sides have a structure to work from. The free-up-to-a-cap framework is that structure.

Is Meta opening WhatsApp to rival AI chatbots just to avoid tougher EU action? Here's what happened

Meta has offered rival AI chatbots limited free access to WhatsApp in Europe, with charges to be implemented after a usage threshold is met. This move aims to appease EU regulators concerned about Big Tech's market dominance. Smaller rivals, however, deem the proposal insufficient and discriminatory. Meta is making a new move in the fast-growing AI race, and this time WhatsApp is at the center of it. The company has reportedly offered rival AI chatbots limited free access to WhatsApp in Europe while it works through mounting pressure from EU regulators. But smaller competitors say the proposal still gives Meta an unfair advantage. The latest dispute highlights how aggressively Europe is now policing competition in artificial intelligence and digital markets, as per a report by Reuters. ALSO READ: Nancy Guthrie case takes another twist: Why has the sheriff stopped speaking directly to Nancy Guthrie's family? here's what you need to know The reported offer comes at a time when Meta, the parent company of Facebook and WhatsApp, is facing increasing scrutiny from the European Union over competition in artificial intelligence and digital services. Reuters reported that Meta submitted the proposal to EU antitrust regulators last week after the European Commission considered ordering the company to provide competitors access to WhatsApp while the broader investigation continues. The Commission is examining whether Meta's control over platforms like WhatsApp could give its own AI services an unfair advantage over rivals trying to compete in the rapidly expanding AI assistant market. Interested parties were reportedly given until May 18 to respond before regulators decide whether the proposal should move forward, as per a report by Reuters. The European Commission declined detailed comment, but repeated that its focus remains on keeping the AI assistant market "open and competitive for innovators." ALSO READ: NVDA stock price: Nvidia earnings beat expectations again but why did NVDA stock slip after hours? Here's what you need to know Under the proposal described by Reuters, rival AI chatbots -- including companies such as OpenAI -- would initially receive free access to WhatsApp through the platform's business API. An API is a software interface that allows different systems to communicate with one another. However, according to sources familiar with the matter, Meta would begin charging competitors once they crossed a limit tied to the number of messages being sent to users. Meta previously said it had already provided free access to rival AI chatbots in Europe for one month while discussions with EU regulators continued. The company also confirmed earlier that rivals could eventually use WhatsApp for a fee. ALSO READ: China wouldn't let Marco Rubio in, so he did something nobody in US politics has ever done Some smaller competitors say the proposal still falls short. The Interaction Company of California, which develops the Poke.com AI assistant, criticized the offer in comments reported by Reuters. "Unfortunately, Meta's current proposal is far from resolving any of the competition concerns identified in this case," the company said. It also urged the European Commission to move ahead with interim measures if Meta does not submit a more meaningful proposal quickly. French startup Agentik raised another concern, arguing that the proposal discriminates against rivals because Meta's own AI assistant does not rely on WhatsApp's API in the same way outside companies would. The dispute traces back to January, when Meta introduced a policy allowing only its own Meta AI assistant on WhatsApp. Reuters reported that Meta later changed the policy in March, opening the door for rival services to access the platform for a fee. That move reportedly triggered another charge sheet from EU regulators, prompting Meta to temporarily suspend fees while negotiations continued. As competition in AI becomes more intense, the fight over WhatsApp access is quickly turning into a bigger battle over who controls the future of digital assistants. What is Meta offering rival AI chatbots? Limited free WhatsApp access before usage fees begin. Why are EU regulators involved? The European Commission is investigating competition concerns around Meta and WhatsApp.