Post by : Bianca
Haleem
The European Commission has formally accused Meta of breaking EU antitrust rules after the company introduced new restrictions on AI services in WhatsApp.
EU regulators are objecting to a policy change introduced in mid-January. Under this update, artificial intelligence features on WhatsApp are mainly limited to Meta’s own assistant, “Meta AI,” while access for competing AI tools has been restricted.
The Commission warned that it may impose interim measures if needed. These temporary actions could be used to stop the policy immediately, especially if regulators believe it may cause irreversible damage to competition in the AI market.
Reports also say that Italy has been kept out of the wider EU case. This is because Italy’s competition authority is already running a separate investigation and has taken provisional steps against Meta’s AI integration in WhatsApp.
Outside Europe, Brazilian antitrust authorities have also launched a similar investigation into Meta’s WhatsApp AI policy.
Meanwhile, Meta is also expanding WhatsApp Web features. The company has started rolling out voice and video calling directly on WhatsApp Web, allowing users to make encrypted calls through their browser.
At the moment, the feature supports one-to-one calls only. Meta is expected to add more options in future updates, including group calls for up to 32 participants, call scheduling tools, and shareable call links.
English
