By Gianluca Lo Nostro
BRUSSELS, April 15 (Reuters) - The European Commission said on Wednesday it intended to order Meta Platforms to reinstate rival artificial intelligence assistants on its WhatsApp messaging service after the U.S. tech giant imposed an access fee.
"The Commission notified Meta that the revised policy seems to have the same effect of excluding third-party AI assistants from WhatsApp and thus appears at first sight to be in breach of EU competition rules," the EU's executive arm said.
Interim measures, which the Commission imposes when it has concerns of damage to competition, would remain in place until the end of the investigation, it said.
"To prevent serious and irreparable harm to competition, the Commission intends to order Meta to reinstate access for third-party AI assistants under the same conditions as before 15 October 2025," it added in a statement.
Meta previously informed the Commission in March that it would allow rival AI assistants on WhatsApp for one year, contingent on a fee, after initially planning to ban third-party AI chatbots from WhatsApp Business.
"The European Commission is proposing to use its regulatory powers to enable some of the largest companies in the world to use the paid-for WhatsApp Business product for free," a Meta spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
"This means that a small bakery in France paying to use the service to take croissant orders will be picking up the tab for OpenAI. Small European businesses shouldn't foot OpenAI's bill," the spokesperson added.
The Commission also said that its investigation had been expanded to Italy, where the Italian competition watchdog had opened its own probe last year.
(Reporting by Gianluca Lo Nostro; Editing by Inti Landauro and Alexander Smith)
