Italy orders Meta to suspend policy banning rival AI chatbots from WhatsApp

Antitrust watchdog steps in, citing abuse of dominant position; Meta calls decision "Fundamentally Flawed"

Italy's antitrust authority, the Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato (AGCM), has issued an interim order forcing Meta Platforms to immediately suspend contractual terms that would prevent rival Artificial Intelligence (AI) chatbots like ChatGPT and Claude from operating on the popular WhatsApp messaging platform.

The decision is a major victory for European regulators and rival AI firms, as the AGCM investigates Meta for the suspected abuse of a dominant market position by favoring its own Meta AI chatbot.

The competition constraint

The dispute centers on updated terms for the WhatsApp Business Solution API which, beginning in January 2026, were set to strictly prohibit AI and machine learning technology providers from using the API to offer general-purpose large language models (LLMs) and generative AI platforms.

The AGCM found that these contractual conditions "completely exclude Meta AI's competitors in the AI chatbot services market from the WhatsApp platform," potentially leading to a restriction of "output, market access, or technical development" in the burgeoning AI sector.

The regulator determined that allowing the policy to stand would cause "serious and irreparable harm to competition" by allowing Meta to leverage WhatsApp's massive user base (over 3 billion globally) to entrench the dominance of its own AI tools.

Wider scrutiny

The AGCM's action is coordinated with a parallel investigation launched by the European Commission over the same allegations, signaling a unified European front against Big Tech's potential anti-competitive behavior in the AI space.

Meta's appeal and defense

Meta has firmly rejected the Italian regulator's decision and announced plans to appeal the order.

"We will appeal. The decision is fundamentally flawed," said a spokesperson for Meta.

Meta's defense hinges on two main arguments:

• First, the company argues that the sudden emergence of sophisticated, general-purpose AI chatbots placed an "unexpected strain on our systems," which were not designed to support large-scale, high-volume AI distribution.

  
  

• Moreover, Meta disputes the notion that WhatsApp should be treated as an open marketplace for rival AI services, stating that other AI companies have numerous avenues to reach users, such as through company websites and mobile app stores.

The interim order requires Meta to suspend the restrictive terms while the broader antitrust investigation continues.