Meta subject to EU antitrust investigation over plan to block AI rivals in WhatsApp

By Foo Yun Chee, Mrinmay Dey and Rishabh Jaiswal

 

BRUSSELS, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Meta Platforms was subject to another EU antitrust investigation on Thursday over its rollout of artificial intelligence features in its WhatsApp messenger that would block rivals, as Big Tech’s use of generative AI comes under increasing scrutiny. 

 

The European Commission opened the probe following complaints from smaller companies and said it may impose interim measures against Meta.

The move, reported earlier by Reuters and the Financial Times, is the latest action by European regulators against large technology firms such as Amazon and Alphabet’s Google as the bloc seeks to balance support for the sector with efforts to curb its expanding influence.

 

Europe’s tougher stance has sparked an industry pushback, particularly by U.S. tech titans, and led to criticism from the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.

 

The European Commission said that the investigation will look into Meta’s new policy that would limit other AI providers’ access to WhatsApp, a potential boost for its own Meta AI system integrated into the platform earlier this year.

 

EU antitrust chief Teresa Ribera said she could impose interim measures, something the Italian competition authority is separately considering.

"We need to address what is happening and it may be that we need to adopt these interim measures," Ribera told reporters on the sidelines of a Bruegel event.

 

She had earlier said the EU investigation meant to ensure European citizens and businesses could benefit fully from AI and aimed to prevent dominant firms abusing their power to crowd out innovative competitors amid a European boom in the technology.

 

A WhatsApp spokesperson called the claims "baseless", adding that the emergence of chatbots on its platforms had put a "strain on our systems that they were not designed to support", a reference to AI systems from other providers.

 

"Still, 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 EU was the first in the world to establish a comprehensive legal framework for AI, setting out guardrails for AI systems and rules for certain high-risk applications in the AI Act.

 

META AI VS RIVAL AI CHATBOTS

 

Meta AI, a chatbot and virtual assistant, has been built into WhatsApp’s interface across European markets since March. The Commission said a new policy fully applicable from January 15, 2026 may block competing AI providers from reaching customers via the platform.

 

Ribera said she acted following complaints from small companies which she did not name.

 

The Interaction Company of California, a tech startup founded by two German entrepreneurs in 2024 which developed AI assistant Poke.com, has taken its grievance to the EU competition enforcer. Spanish AI startup Luzia has also talked to the Commission, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said.

 

"If Meta is allowed to maintain its new policy, millions of European consumers will be deprived of the possibility of enjoying new and innovative AI assistants like Poke.com. Swift intervention by the Commission is of utmost importance," said Marvin von Hagen, co-founder and CEO of The Interaction Company of California.

 

Meta risks a fine of as much as 10% of its global annual turnover if found guilty of breaching EU antitrust rules.

 

Italy’s antitrust watchdog opened a parallel investigation in July into allegations that Meta leveraged its market power by integrating an AI tool into WhatsApp, expanding the probe in November to examine whether Meta further abused its dominance by blocking rival AI chatbots from the messaging platform.

 

The antitrust probe is a more traditional means of investigation than the EU’s Digital Markets Act, the bloc’s landmark legislation currently used to scrutinize Amazon and Microsoft’s cloud services for potential curbs.

 

(Reporting by Foo Yun-Chee, Mrinmay Dey and Rishabh Jaiswal in Bengaluru; Writing by Adam Jourdan; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee and Louise Heavens, Kirsten Donovan)