Meta announced on Thursday that it will allow AI companies to offer their chatbots on WhatsApp in Europe for the next twelve months. This decision is a direct response to pressure from the European Commission, which last month informed Meta of its intent to impose interim measures. Those measures aimed to stop Meta from enforcing a policy that blocked third-party AI chatbot providers from using the WhatsApp Business API.
The company stated that for the next year, it will support general-purpose AI chatbots using the WhatsApp Business API in Europe. Meta believes this move eliminates the need for immediate regulatory intervention, giving the European Commission time to complete its investigation.
Under the new arrangement, AI chatbot providers will be permitted to offer their services on WhatsApp for a fee. This fee ranges from €0.0490 to €0.1323 per “non-template message,” with the exact cost depending on the user’s country. Given that conversations with AI assistants typically involve many messages, this pricing could become expensive for third-party providers.
A spokesperson for the European Commission confirmed it is analyzing the impact of these changes on both its interim measures investigation and its broader antitrust probe. The policy change took effect on January 15 and had previously prompted complaints from several AI assistant providers. They argued the ban disrupted their business and was anti-competitive.
It is important to note that this policy does not apply to businesses using AI for customer service on WhatsApp. For example, a retailer using an AI-powered bot to send templatized customer service messages can continue using the API without restriction. The prohibition specifically targets general-purpose AI chatbots like ChatGPT, Claude, or Poke.
This action in Europe follows a similar move by Meta in January, when it began allowing developers to use its API to offer chatbots in Italy. Regulators worldwide have expressed antitrust concerns since Meta first announced the restrictive policy last October. The European Union, Italy, and Brazil all launched investigations, particularly because Meta offers its own AI chatbot, Meta AI, on the WhatsApp platform.
In the past, WhatsApp has defended its stance by stating that AI chatbots place a strain on its systems in ways the Business API was not designed to handle. The company has also argued that the AI market is highly competitive, with users having many other avenues to access these services, including app stores, search engines, and email.