Italy tells Meta to suspend its policy that bans rival AI chatbots from WhatsApp

Italy tells Meta to suspend its policy that bans rival AI chatbots from WhatsApp

Italy has ordered Meta to suspend its policy that bans firms from utilizing WhatsApp’s enterprise instruments to supply their very own AI chatbots on the common chat app.

The Italian Competition Authority (AGCM) on Wednesday said it had discovered sufficient trigger in its ongoing investigation into whether or not Meta was abusing its dominant place in the market to supply its Meta AI chatbot within WhatsApp to order the suspension of the policy.

“Meta’s conduct appears to constitute an abuse, since it may limit production, market access, or technical developments in the AI Chatbot services market, to the detriment of consumers,” the Authority wrote. “Moreover, while the investigation is ongoing, Meta’s conduct may cause serious and irreparable harm to competition in the affected market, undermining contestability.”

The AGCM in November had broadened the scope of an current investigation into Meta, after the company modified its enterprise API policy in October to ban general-purpose chatbots from being provided on the chat app by way of the API.

Meta has argued that its API isn’t designed to be a platform for the distribution of chatbots and that people have more avenues past WhatsApp to use AI bots from other firms. The policy change, which fits into impact in January, would have an effect on the availability of AI chatbots from the likes of OpenAI, Perplexity, and Poke on the app.

The policy doesn’t have an effect on companies that are utilizing AI to serve prospects on WhatsApp. For occasion, a retailer operating an AI-powered customer support bot received’t be barred from utilizing the API. Only AI chatbots like ChatGPT or Claude are prohibited from being distributed by way of the API.

The European Commission this month also launched an investigation into the new policy, elevating considerations that it might “prevent third-party AI providers from offering their services through WhatsApp in the European Economic Area (‘EEA’).”

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Calling the Authority’s determination “fundamentally flawed,” Meta said WhatsApp’s enterprise API isn’t a route to the marketplace for AI firms.

“The emergence of AI chatbots on our Business API put a strain on our systems that they were not designed to support. The Italian authority assumes WhatsApp is somehow a defacto app store. The route to market for AI companies are the app stores themselves, their websites and industry partnerships; not the WhatsApp Business Platform. We will appeal,” Meta said in an emailed assertion.

Note: This story was up to date to add Meta’s response to the determination.

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