EU Hits Meta With Antitrust Probe Over Plans To Block AI Rivals From WhatsApp

The EU has opened an antitrust investigation into Meta over a new WhatsApp policy that could block rival AI assistants from accessing the platform. Complaints from smaller AI developers triggered the probe, which could lead to fines of up to 10% of Meta's global revenue if the company is found to have abused its dominance. Reuters reports: EU antitrust chief Teresa Ribera said the move was to prevent dominant firms from 'abusing their power to crowd out innovative competitors.' She added interim measures could be imposed to block Meta's new WhatsApp AI policy rollout. 'AI markets are booming in Europe and beyond,' she said. 'This is why we are investigating if Meta's new policy might be illegal under competition rules, and whether we should act quickly to prevent any possible irreparable harm to competition in the AI space.'

A WhatsApp spokesperson called the claims 'baseless,' adding that the emergence of chatbots on its platforms had put a 'strain on our systems that they were not designed to support,' a reference to AI systems from other providers. 'Still, the AI space is highly competitive and people have access to the services of their choice in any number of ways, including app stores, search engines, email services, partnership integrations, and operating systems.'

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