The European Commission is considering interim measures to force Meta to restore third-party AI chatbots on WhatsApp after the company restricted their functionality last year. Meta's changes limited these chatbots primarily to customer support roles, prompting regulatory scrutiny over potential anti-competitive behavior.

Commission Executive Vice-President Teresa Ribera emphasized the urgency, stating that AI markets are developing rapidly and swift action is necessary to prevent irreparable harm to competition. The Commission's preliminary findings suggest WhatsApp holds a dominant position in communications apps, and Meta's restrictions on third-party AI assistants could constitute abuse of that market power.

Meta has the opportunity to defend its position, but interim measures could be implemented regardless of the final investigation outcome. The company told Bloomberg that the Commission's logic incorrectly assumes the WhatsApp Business API is a crucial distribution channel for these chatbots. However, OpenAI and Microsoft may disagree, as their ChatGPT and Copilot services were removed from WhatsApp starting January 15. The Commission's action highlights growing regulatory concern over tech giants controlling access to AI services on their platforms.