Meta opens WhatsApp to rival AI chatbots in Europe and Brazil, but developers balk at pricing

After Europe, WhatsApp will let rival AI companies offer chatbots in Brazil

Meta is now allowing rival AI companies to provide their chatbots on WhatsApp to Brazilian users for a fee, a day after the company confirmed a similar decision for users in Europe. Earlier this week, Brazil's antitrust regulator CADE ruled against Meta and rejected its appeal to block an earlier order to suspend its policy change that seeks to bar third-party AI chatbots on WhatsApp. "Upon reviewing the case, the CADE Tribunal determined that the necessary requirements for maintaining the preventive measure were present. According to the case rapporteur, Councilor Carlos Jacques, there is evidence of legal plausibility, considering the relevance of WhatsApp in the Brazilian instant messaging services market," CADE's ruling reads. The regulator added that banning third-party AI chatbots on WhatsApp "would not be proportionate" and could result in competitive harm. Meta said in response that it would let third-party AI chatbot providers use its WhatsApp Business API to offer their services on the app for a fee, wherever it is legally required to do so. The company will charge $0.0625 per "non-template message" in Brazil from March 11. "Where we are legally required to provide AI chatbots through the WhatsApp business API, we are introducing pricing for the companies that choose to use our platform to provide those services," a Meta spokesperson said. Meta announced the policy change last October, which spurred several antitrust investigations, particularly because the company offers its own AI chatbot, Meta AI, inside WhatsApp. The company has maintained that its WhatsApp Business API was not designed to cater to AI chatbots, and that they put a strain on the company's system. While Meta is now allowing third-party chatbots in some regions because of regulations, developers tell TechCrunch that they are hesitant to resume services, saying the pricing set by Meta is high and could result in high costs.

Meta will allow rival AI chatbots on WhatsApp in Europe, but for a fee | TechCrunch

In a bid to stave off a major investigation by the European Commission, Meta said on Thursday that it would allow AI companies to offer their chatbots on WhatsApp via its business API for the next 12 months in Europe. The move comes a month after the European Commission told Meta that it intended to impose interim measures in order to stop the company from implementing its policy, which barred third-party AI chatbot providers from using the WhatsApp Business API to offer their services on the app. "For the next 12 months, we'll support general-purpose AI chatbots using the WhatsApp Business API in Europe in response to the European Commission's regulatory process," the company said in an emailed statement. "We believe that this removes the need for any immediate intervention as it gives the European Commission the time it needs to conclude its investigation." Meta says it will allow general-purpose AI chatbot providers to offer their services on WhatsApp for a fee, which ranges from €0.0490 to €0.1323 per "non-template message," depending on the country. Considering the fact that conversations with AI assistants usually comprise dozens of messages, the bill could prove costly for third-party service providers. "The Commission is analysing the impact these changes may have on its interim measures investigation, as well as on its broader antitrust investigation on the substance," a spokesperson for the European Commission said in an emailed statement. The policy change went into effect on January 15, spurring several AI assistant providers to complain to regulators that it was disrupting their business and the decision was anti-competitive. Notably, the policy does not apply to businesses that are using AI to serve customers on WhatsApp. For instance, a retailer running an AI-powered customer service bot that sends templatized messages won't be barred from using the API. Only AI chatbots like ChatGPT, Claude, or Poke are prohibited from being offered via the API. The decision follows a similar move by the company in January, when it started allowing developers to tap its API to offer their chatbots in Italy. Regulators around the world raised antitrust concerns after Meta announced the policy change last October, with the EU, Italy, and Brazil all launching investigations, especially because the company offers its own AI chatbot, Meta AI, on WhatsApp. WhatsApp has in the past justified its stance by arguing that AI chatbots strain its systems in ways that its Business API wasn't designed to support. "The AI space is highly competitive, and people have access to the services of their choice in any number of ways, including app stores, search engines, email services, partnership integrations, and operating systems," the company previously told TechCrunch.

Meta to allow AI rivals on WhatsApp in bid to stave off EU action

BRUSSELS, March 5 (Reuters) - Artificial intelligence rivals will be allowed on WhatsApp for a year, Meta Platforms (META.O), opens new tab said, aiming to head off a possible temporary order from EU antitrust regulators after complaints from competitors shut out of the messaging service. The European Commission, the EU's competition enforcer, last month threatened interim measures to prevent potential serious and irreparable harm to rivals after Meta blocked them from WhatsApp, mirroring moves by Italy's watchdog in December. Meta has now told the Commission it will let rival AI chatbots access WhatsApp for a fee. The company barred them on January 15, allowing only its Meta AI ⁠assistant on the service. "For the next 12 months, we'll support general purpose AI chatbots using the WhatsApp Business API in Europe in response to the European Commission's regulatory process," a Meta spokesperson said. "We believe that this removes the need for any immediate intervention as it gives the European Commission the time it needs to conclude its investigation." The Commission said it was analysing how Meta's changes might affect both its interim measures review and its broader antitrust investigation. Meta has previously said the rise of chatbots on its platforms strains its systems and that other channels exist for AI providers, ⁠including app stores, search engines, email services, partnership integrations and operating systems. Meta allowed rival chatbots onto WhatsApp in Italy in January after an order from the Italian antitrust authority, which is still investigating. The Interaction Company of California, developer of the Poke.com AI assistant and a complainant to EU and Italian regulators, urged Brussels to ⁠impose an interim order on Meta. "What Meta presents as good-faith compliance is in reality the opposite. The company is now introducing vexatious pricing for AI providers that makes it just as impossible to operate on WhatsApp ⁠as the outright ban did," its CEO Marvin von Hagen said. "The so-called Italian 'solution' is thus no solution at all. It simply replaces one anti-competitive restriction with another," he said. Meta said its policy ⁠changes will also apply in Brazil after a court on Wednesday reinstated an injunction from the country's antitrust authority that another court had suspended in January. The Brazilian case is similar to the EU and Italian ones. Reporting by Foo Yun Chee. Editing by Mark Potter Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab * Suggested Topics: * Artificial Intelligence * Data Privacy * Regulatory Oversight * Antitrust 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 allows rival AI chatbots on WhatsApp in Europe for a fee

Meta announced it will permit general-purpose AI chatbot providers to offer their services on WhatsApp in Europe via its business API for the next 12 months. The company said this policy change is a response to the European Commission's regulatory process and aims to prevent immediate intervention. This move is a direct reversal of a policy Meta implemented in January that barred third-party AI chatbots from the WhatsApp Business API. The original policy prompted complaints from AI assistant providers and antitrust investigations from regulators in the EU, Italy, and Brazil, who cited Meta's own AI chatbot, Meta AI, as a potential conflict. Meta will charge fees for these services, ranging from €0.0490 to €0.1323 per "non-template message," depending on the country. The company stated this change removes the need for interim measures, giving the European Commission time to conclude its investigation. A European Commission spokesperson said the body is analyzing the impact of Meta's changes on its interim and broader antitrust investigations. The January policy change disrupted several AI assistant providers, who argued it was anti-competitive. Meta previously told TechCrunch that the AI space is highly competitive and that users have access to services through app stores, search engines, and other integrations. WhatsApp had justified the original ban by stating that AI chatbots strain its systems in ways the Business API was not designed to support. In January, Meta also began allowing developers to use its API for chatbots in Italy. Regulators launched antitrust concerns after Meta announced the initial policy change in October, focusing on the company's offer of its own AI chatbot on the platform. The new fee-based access applies to providers like ChatGPT and Claude, while businesses using AI for customer service with templatized messages are not affected.

Meta to Let Third-Party AI Chatbots Run on WhatsApp for a Fee

Meta will reportedly continue this support for the next 12 months Meta, on Wednesday, changed its policy to allow third-party artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots on WhatsApp in select regions. The updated policy was specified following objections from the European Union (EU), which found the older policy in breach of its competition rules. However, while the social media giant has agreed to open WhatsApp to rival AI platforms, it plans to charge them a fee for each non-template message sent. Additionally, the company has currently only made this exemption for 30 countries. Meta Opens WhatsApp to Rival AI Chatbots In October 2025, Meta updated its business application programming interface (API) policy to restrict third-party AI chatbots from accessing WhatsApp Business, and the rules were brought into effect on January 15. After this, ChatGPT, Copilot, and other AI bots were deactivated. The company did not specify the reason behind the prohibition, although reports had claimed that it could be due to these chatbots directly competing with its Meta AI. The company said, "AI Providers are only permitted to offer general-purpose AI assistants on the WhatsApp Business Platform where Meta is legally required to permit this use case." Following the move, the EU called the move anti-competitive and warned of imposing interim measures to prevent potential harm to rival AI companies. The same concerns were raised by Italy's watchdog in December, which led to Meta allowing rival AI chatbots in the country for a fee. Now, in the updated document, the tech giant said that in countries where it is legally required to allow support of the WhatsApp Business platform to third-party AI providers, it will charge them for every non-template message the bot sends to a user. This provision is currently applicable in 30 countries, out of which 26 are EU members, three are members of the European Economic Area (EEA), and the remaining country is Brazil. A TechCrunch report claims that Meta could charge AI providers a fee ranging between EUR 0.0490 (roughly Rs. 5) and EUR 0.1323 (roughly Rs. 14) for each non-template message, depending on the country. Since user conversations with AI bots can span dozens of messages, the service can be a costly affair for AI companies. A Meta spokesperson told Reuters, "For the next 12 months, we'll support general-purpose AI chatbots using the WhatsApp Business API in Europe in response to the European Commission's regulatory process. We believe that this removes the need for any immediate intervention as it gives the European Commission the time it needs to conclude its investigation."

Meta to allow AI rivals on WhatsApp in bid to stave off EU action - The Economic Times

Artificial intelligence rivals will be allowed on WhatsApp for a year, Meta Platforms said, aiming to head off a possible temporary order from EU antitrust regulators after complaints from competitors shut out of the messaging service. The European Commission, the EU's competition enforcer, last month threatened interim measures to prevent potential serious and irreparable harm to rivals after Meta blocked them from WhatsApp, ⁠mirroring moves ⁠by Italy's watchdog in December. Meta has now told the Commission it will let rival AI chatbots access WhatsApp for a fee. The company barred them on January 15, allowing only its Meta AI assistant on the service. "For the next 12 months, we'll support general purpose AI chatbots using the WhatsApp Business API in Europe in response to the European Commission's regulatory process," a Meta spokesperson said. "We believe that this removes ⁠the need for any immediate intervention as it gives the European Commission the time it needs to conclude its investigation." The Commission said it was analysing how ⁠Meta's changes might affect both its interim measures review and its broader antitrust investigation. Meta has previously said the rise of chatbots on its platforms strains its systems and that other channels exist for AI providers, including app stores, search engines, email services, partnership integrations and operating systems. Meta allowed rival chatbots onto WhatsApp in Italy in January after an order from the Italian antitrust authority, which is still investigating. The Interaction Company of California, developer of the Poke.com AI assistant and a complainant to EU and Italian regulators, urged Brussels to impose an interim order on Meta. "What Meta presents as good-faith compliance is in reality the opposite. The company ⁠is now introducing vexatious pricing for AI providers that makes it just as impossible to operate on WhatsApp as the outright ban did," its CEO Marvin von Hagen said. "The so-called Italian 'solution' is thus no solution at all. It simply replaces one anti-competitive restriction with another," he said. Meta said its policy changes will also apply in Brazil after a court on Wednesday reinstated an injunction from the country's antitrust authority that another court had suspended in January. The Brazilian case is similar to the EU and Italian ones.

Meta Pauses WhatsApp AI Chatbot Ban

Meta has paused its decision to block third-party AI chatbots from WhatsApp. In October 2025, it announced it would ban competing AI chatbots like ChatGPT and Perplexity from using its Business API services, which allow them to offer AI services within WhatsApp's chat interface. Reuters reports that a Meta spokesperson said, "For the next 12 months, we'll support general-purpose AI chatbots using the WhatsApp Business API in Europe in response to the European Commission's regulatory process." This decision followed interventions by Italy's competition authority and the European Commission, which argued that banning third-party chatbots would harm competition in the AI market. In October 2025, WhatsApp updated its Business Application Programming Interface (API) to block third-party AI chatbots from its platform, stating the intent to preserve user privacy and security. At the time of announcement, Meta planned to implement this feature starting Jan. 15, 2026. In December 2025, 22 days before the planned rollout, Italy's competition authority intervened to stop Meta from blocking AI rivals. It warned that Meta's actions could cause irreversible harm to competition in the AI market. In February 2026, the European Commission objected, calling Meta's ban on third-party AI chatbots anti-competitive under EU rules. EC also revealed the following findings from their preliminary investigation: The social media giant noted that this 12-month period will give the EC time to finish its investigation. When WhatsApp announced this move in October, a Meta spokesperson told TechCrunch that rival AI chatbots' use of the WhatsApp Business API on its platform increased unexpectedly. As a result, the high volume of messages from third-party AI bots strained the platform. Meta emphasized that WhatsApp's Business API is intended for customer support messages and timely updates. Meta also noted it lacked a mechanism to determine proper charges for AI providers using its APIs, risking valuable revenue loss while handling high message volumes. The biggest advantage of having an AI chatbot on a popular messaging platform is its distribution capacity. This broad reach can create network effects for the application. As a result, several chatbots want to onboard WhatsApp. These range from popular apps like ChatGPT and Perplexity to lesser-known apps like Poke.com, a complainant in the EU case. Apps that depend on WhatsApp also include India-based applications offering AI services, such as Reliance's Haptik AI and PuchAI, a multilingual chatbot accessible through WhatsApp. At the time of this report, the WhatsApp link on Puch AI's website remains active. It still redirects users to the WhatsApp application. However, when MediaNama tested it, it returned no results. Enabling users' access via WhatsApp can be essential for both businesses and users. When MediaNama tested Poke.com's features, it didn't redirect users to WhatsApp. Instead, it redirected users to a standard cellular text messaging app with a prebuilt prompt: "add me to poke :)" When the user sends that text, a notice appears stating that Rs 5 is deducted from the cellular balance. More importantly, even after deducting Rs. 5 per message, there was no response from Poke.com. Users generally do not need to pay to access AI chatbots on WhatsApp. Only AI companies that subscribe to its Business API services must pay, per its rate cards. After Meta's decision to pause its blocking of AI chatbots, Poke.com alleged that, as a result, Meta increased the prices for AI chatbots. Poke.com co-founder Marvin von Hagen highlighted the impact, stating in a post on X, "Our average cost per user went from $0.13 to $11.04 - just for the whatsapp api. How does this allow for fair competition?" For further context on WhatsApp's business pricing, in July 2025, WhatsApp updated its pricing model from a flat 24-hour window to a per-message rate. These changes, which might affect AI chatbot providers like Poke.com, ranged from Rs. 0.11 for utility messages to Rs. 2.3 for International Authentication. At the time of writing, WhatsApp's business API page does not specify rate cards for AI companies.

Meta to allow AI rivals on WhatsApp in bid to stave off EU action

BRUSSELS, March 5 (Reuters) - Artificial intelligence rivals will be allowed on WhatsApp for a year, Meta Platforms said, aiming to head off a possible temporary order from EU antitrust regulators after complaints from competitors shut out of the messaging service. The European Commission, the EU's competition enforcer, last month threatened interim measures to prevent potential serious and irreparable harm to rivals after Meta blocked them from WhatsApp, mirroring moves by Italy's watchdog in December. Meta has now told the Commission it will let rival AI chatbots access WhatsApp for a fee. The company barred them on January 15, allowing only its Meta AI assistant on the service. "For the next 12 months, we'll support general purpose AI chatbots using the WhatsApp Business API in Europe in response to the European Commission's regulatory process," a Meta spokesperson said. "We believe that this removes the need for any immediate intervention as it gives the European Commission the time it needs to conclude its investigation." The Commission said it was analysing how Meta's changes might affect both its interim measures review and its broader antitrust investigation. Meta has previously said the rise of chatbots on its platforms strains its systems and that other channels exist for AI providers, including app stores, search engines, email services, partnership integrations and operating systems. Meta allowed rival chatbots onto WhatsApp in Italy in January after an order from the Italian antitrust authority, which is still investigating. The Interaction Company of California, developer of the Poke.com AI assistant and a complainant to EU and Italian regulators, urged Brussels to impose an interim order on Meta. "What Meta presents as good-faith compliance is in reality the opposite. The company is now introducing vexatious pricing for AI providers that makes it just as impossible to operate on WhatsApp as the outright ban did," its CEO Marvin von Hagen said. "The so-called Italian 'solution' is thus no solution at all. It simply replaces one anti-competitive restriction with another," he said. Meta said its policy changes will also apply in Brazil after a court on Wednesday reinstated an injunction from the country's antitrust authority that another court had suspended in January. The Brazilian case is similar to the EU and Italian ones. (Reporting by Foo Yun Chee. Editing by Mark Potter)