The news: The EU warned Meta that restricting rival AI assistants on its WhatsApp chat service may breach competition rules, highlighting how dominant platforms control AI distribution, per Bloomberg.

Meta is dependent on AI conversations to personalize ads not just on WhatsApp, but also on Facebook and Instagram. Opening that ecosystem to AI rivals muddles the conversational signals Meta uses to target ads.

The case lands as Brussels tightens oversight of Big Tech under the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and Digital Services Act (DSA), and as US-EU tensions over tech regulation intensify.

Why it’s worth watching: While positioned as an optional service, Meta AI features prominently in WhatsApp as the engine for its chat and navigation assistants, search, and in group chats.

Enabling the use of alternative AI services like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Anthropic’s Claude, or Google’s Gemini upends WhatsApp’s structural AI underpinnings, and by extension, its ad ecosystem.

• The European Commission (EC) issued a formal statement of objections, arguing Meta’s policies risk shutting competitors out of the fast-growing AI assistant market.
• Regulators say Meta blocking access to WhatsApp’s Business API, which they assume enables third parties to be accessible inside WhatsApp, could cause “serious and irreparable harm” to competition.
• Under EU law, authorities can impose interim measures such as bans and levy fines of up to 10% of global annual revenues for antitrust violations.

Meta’s response: “The Commission’s logic incorrectly assumes the WhatsApp Business API is a key distribution channel for these (alternative) chatbots,” a Meta spokesperson told Bloomberg. “There are many AI options, and people can use them from app stores, operating systems, devices, websites, and industry partnerships.”

Implications for brands: Control of AI distribution lanes is becoming as important as AI model quality. Messaging apps like WhatsApp are daily-use surfaces with embedded identity, payments, and commerce hooks. Limiting API access determines who captures user intent.

If regulators force interoperability, competing chatbots may gain broader AI integrations inside WhatsApp. If not, Meta’s stack could become the default AI gateway for conversational commerce in Europe.

Brands should prepare for possible fragmentation:

• Diversify AI assistant integrations across platforms.
• Audit reliance on single-channel APIs for customer engagement.
• Track EU enforcement timelines and potential interim orders.

This content is part of EMARKETER’s subscription Briefings, where we pair daily updates with data and analysis from forecasts and research reports. Our Briefings prepare you to start your day informed, to provide critical insights in an important meeting, and to understand the context of what’s happening in your industry. Non-clients can click here to get a demo of our full platform and coverage.