Brussels – “Meta is likely to be dominant” in the European Economic Area (EEA) market for consumer communication applications, notably through WhatsApp. The European Commission is continuing with the investigation launched in December against the messaging service and has announced the imposition of interim measures to safeguard the proper functioning of the single market. These are actions the EU executive can take on its own initiative while checks are still underway, as a precaution, until the ongoing investigations are concluded.
Meta’s choice and the EU investigation
The twelve-star Antitrust Authority took action on 15 October 2025, when Meta, the company that controls WhatsApp, announced an update to the terms of WhatsApp Business Solution, effectively excluding generic third-party artificial intelligence (AI) assistants from the application. As a result, from 15 January 2026, the only AI assistant available on WhatsApp is Meta’s own tool, Meta AI, while competitors have been excluded. The Commission informed Meta that this change in company policy appears, at first glance, to violate EU competition rules. Today (9 February), the decision was made to require Meta to suspend the WhatsApp Business Solution terms until the EU investigation is complete. The measures apply to the European Economic Area, except for Italy, where the Italian Competition and Market Authority imposed interim measures on Meta in December 2025.
“Artificial intelligence is bringing incredible innovations to consumers, and one of these is the emerging market of AI assistants,” said Teresa Ribera, Executive Vice President for a Clean, Fair, and Competitive, who believes that “we must protect effective competition in this vibrant field.” This, she stresses, means that “we cannot allow dominant tech companies to illegally leverage their dominance to give themselves an unfair advantage.” That is why “we are considering quickly imposing interim measures on Meta, to preserve access for competitors to WhatsApp while the investigation is ongoing, and avoid Meta’s new policy irreparably harming competition in Europe.”
No restrictions
The interim measures require Meta to refrain from closing the market to other operators. The European Commission believes that WhatsApp currently represents “an important entry point” for generic artificial intelligence assistants to reach consumers. Meta’s conduct “risks raising barriers to entry and expansion, and irreparably marginalising smaller competitors on the market for general-purpose AI assistants.” In essence, there is a risk of economic repercussions on other companies operating in the sector.
Meta will have the opportunity to study the Commission’s requests, along with the accompanying objections, and request a meeting to discuss the matter. If, at the end of this discussion, the EU executive concludes that the conditions for adopting provisional measures are met, Brussels may adopt a decision imposing such measures.
English version by the Translation Service of Withub
