EU orders Meta to reopen WhatsApp Business API for rival AI chatbots, escalating pressure on the platform

The European Commission has ordered Meta to restore access for rival AI chatbots to WhatsApp Business tools, triggering fresh conflict between the EU and one of the world’s most influential messaging platforms. According to the report, the regulator issued interim measures requiring Meta to allow third parties to regain access to the WhatsApp Business API within five days, while the investigation continues.

WhatsApp Business API is the set of interfaces and technical pathways that businesses and developers use to connect customer messaging at scale to WhatsApp. In practice, it can also be used by third-party systems, including AI assistants, to automate conversations with customers and route messages through WhatsApp’s infrastructure.

Meta pushed back, characterizing the order as “regulatory overreach” and warning that the change could amount to the EU effectively giving large AI players easier access to WhatsApp’s messaging network. The reporting also describes the decision as allowing “rival AI chatbots” to be back on WhatsApp for free, at least for the access the order covers, as regulators seek to address competition concerns.

The EU action comes amid a broader competition and platform scrutiny campaign in Europe that has increasingly targeted how dominant gatekeepers control access to their ecosystems. In messaging, that can include not just end-user communications, but also how businesses deploy automation, how third parties integrate messaging workflows, and what restrictions exist around who can connect and on what terms.

Additional coverage indicates the dispute centers on antitrust regulators’ concerns that Meta’s arrangements may be limiting rivals, including AI chatbot providers, from using WhatsApp business messaging capabilities. Some of the reporting frames the order as the Commission continuing to investigate Meta’s role in the market for business messaging and conversational automation, and acting quickly through interim steps rather than waiting for a final decision.

Meta’s response suggests the company views the ruling as disrupting how it governs access to WhatsApp’s business tools, potentially forcing changes before regulators have concluded the underlying case. It is also consistent with a common point of tension in AI integration, where companies that provide chatbots want distribution and interoperability, while the platform owner emphasizes safety, reliability, and control over technical access.

What remains unclear from the published reporting is the full scope of the order. The details that would matter to developers and businesses, such as the exact terms of access, the documentation or eligibility requirements regulators expect Meta to reinstate, and any specific compliance timetable beyond the headline five-day deadline, were not laid out in the available excerpts. The same is true for information on whether the Commission attached specific monetary penalties for noncompliance in the immediate period, or how the Commission will measure compliance during the interim phase.

For now, companies building AI assistants and business messaging workflows will likely watch for Meta’s implementation plan and whether the company changes policies tied to the WhatsApp Business API. The next key announcement will be whether the EU order provokes further legal or procedural responses from Meta, and what the Commission’s final antitrust findings look like as the underlying investigation moves from interim measures toward a decision.