The order regulators almost never use
The European Commission has ordered Meta to restore free access to WhatsApp for AI chatbots built by competing providers — and it did so using an interim measure, a legal instrument EU competition authorities have deployed only once before in their history.
Interim measures in EU antitrust law are emergency orders issued before a full investigation concludes. They require a regulator to show that harm is both serious and irreparable if action is delayed. The Commission said that threshold was met here, warning of "serious and irreparable damage to competition" in the market for general-purpose AI assistants if Meta's restrictions on third-party chatbots were allowed to stand during the investigation.
The rarity of the tool is worth pausing on. EU competition enforcement typically moves slowly and deliberately. Reaching for an interim measure suggests the Commission believes the competitive window — the period during which AI assistant habits and platform integrations are being formed — is closing fast enough that waiting for a full ruling would be too late.
What Meta is alleged to have done
According to the Commission's announcement, Meta had blocked or restricted rival AI providers from accessing WhatsApp's platform on the same terms it extends to its own Meta AI assistant. WhatsApp has roughly two billion monthly active users globally, making it one of the largest potential distribution channels for any AI product.
The specific technical mechanism Meta used to restrict access has not been fully detailed in public filings reviewed for this article. What the Commission has made clear is that the effect — whatever the mechanism — was to give Meta AI a structural advantage on a platform Meta owns.
Why AI assistant distribution is the new battleground
The case reflects a broader regulatory theory that is gaining traction in Brussels: that the competition problem in AI is not only about who builds the most capable model, but about who controls the pipes through which AI assistants reach users.
WhatsApp is not a neutral pipe. It is a Meta-owned platform with deep user lock-in, end-to-end encrypted messaging infrastructure, and a user base that skews toward markets — particularly in Europe, Latin America, and South Asia — where it is the dominant messaging application. If Meta can preference its own AI assistant there, rivals face a distribution disadvantage that no amount of model improvement can easily overcome.
This is the logic the Commission appears to be acting on, and it mirrors concerns regulators have raised about app stores, browsers, and search — categories where platform ownership and product competition overlap.
What happens next
Meta has not publicly confirmed whether it will comply immediately or challenge the interim order. Companies subject to such measures can contest them, though the legal bar for overturning an interim measure is high.
The underlying antitrust investigation into Meta's conduct on WhatsApp continues. A final ruling, if it goes against Meta, could result in structural remedies, fines, or binding interoperability requirements — though the timeline for that outcome remains unclear.
For now, the interim order means rival AI providers should, in principle, be able to access WhatsApp on equal terms. Whether that access translates into meaningful competition will depend on factors the order alone cannot resolve: user awareness, developer uptake, and whether Meta finds other ways to advantage its own product within the rules.