EU opens antitrust probe into Meta’s curbs on third‑party AI providers in WhatsApp

Summary

An Italian commentary piece reports that the European Commission has launched a formal antitrust investigation into Meta over a new WhatsApp Business policy that bans third‑party AI providers from using the WhatsApp Business Solution when AI is the primary service, while Meta’s own ‘Meta AI’ assistant remains available. Regulators fear the policy could block rival AI assistants from reaching users across the European Economic Area via WhatsApp, potentially constituting an abuse of dominance; Italy is excluded from the EU probe due to a parallel case by its national competition authority.