The European Commission has issued interim measures requiring Meta to restore free access to WhatsApp for competing general-purpose AI assistants, and to maintain those conditions while its antitrust investigation is ongoing.

The Commission said the decision is intended to prevent “serious and irreparable harm” to competition in the fast-growing market for AI assistants. It believes Meta may have abused a dominant position by restricting access to the WhatsApp for Business API after introducing a policy in late 2025 that effectively blocked rival AI services while keeping Meta AI fully integrated.

Although Meta later reintroduced access for third-party AI assistants, the Commission found that the new fee structure could make participation economically unviable, effectively continuing the exclusion of competitors. Regulators argue this risks distorting competition at a critical stage in the development of AI assistant markets, where new entrants and smaller firms are still able to compete.

The order requires Meta to reinstate access on the same terms that existed before October 2025—when access was free—and to comply within five working days. These interim measures will remain in place until the final decision in the ongoing investigation, or at the latest until 2029.

Executive Vice-President Teresa Ribera said the intervention is necessary to preserve market contestability and prevent dominant platforms from leveraging control over communication networks like WhatsApp to favour their own AI services. She emphasized that the goal is to maintain open access for innovation and consumer choice in Europe’s rapidly evolving AI sector.