Italy’s Antitrust Watchdog Orders Meta to Halt WhatsApp Terms Blocking Rival AI Chatbots

MILAN — Italy's antitrust body, the Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato (AGCM), has told Meta Platforms to stop using certain WhatsApp contract terms that could stop other AI chatbots from working on the messaging service. As AI becomes a major issue in competition policy, Europe is looking more closely at how big tech companies do business.

Competition Issues with WhatsApp's Terms

The AGCM's order points at new words linked to WhatsApp's Business Platform. These will come into force in early 2026. Regulators say these terms could keep AI chatbots made by rivals out of the new AI services market. This could hurt competition, make it harder for new companies to get into the market, and slow down technological progress.

The watchdog says that these kinds of rules "completely exclude Meta AI's competitors in the AI chatbot services market from the WhatsApp platform." This raises worries about fair competition and giving customers a lot of choices in a digital world that is changing quickly.

Meta's Response and Appeal Plan

Meta said that the AGCM's ruling was "fundamentally flawed." The company says that the rise in AI robot use has put a lot of stress on WhatsApp's infrastructure, which wasn't built to support third-party AI services on a large scale. Meta has said that it will fight the regulator's order.

The company also says that third-party AI developers can still offer their services in other ways, like through their own apps, websites, or other links, even if they can't use WhatsApp's business API because of the new policy.

The Bigger Picture of Regulations

The Italian order is part of a larger effort by European officials to go after big tech companies. The European Commission has started a similar antitrust probe into the same WhatsApp terms. This shows that regulators are worried that big digital services might be hurting competition in the fast-growing AI market.

Europe does things differently than the United States, which has less strict rules. This has led to public criticism from U.S. lawmakers and tech industry leaders.

What It Means for Developers and Users

If the AGCM's order is carried out, Meta will have to stop any contract terms that keep competing AI chatbots out of WhatsApp while investigations are still going on. This could keep AI services like ChatGPT, Claude, or other third-party helpers on the platform available to more people, at least for a short time.

The move may help keep a wider range of AI tools on WhatsApp for users. It is a push from the government to stop big tech companies from making rules that could hurt their rivals and developers.