The European Commission adopted interim measures on Tuesday 9 June requiring Meta to restore free access to WhatsApp for rival AI assistants within five days, European Commissioner for Competition Teresa Ribera announced.
The Commission had threatened the US company with such measures in April (see EUROPE 13849/7).
Until January 2026, Meta allowed AI assistants to interact with WhatsApp users, just as its main commercial partners, such as online travel agencies, did. Users could therefore interact with the AI assistant of their choice on WhatsApp.
However, “since 15 January, only Meta’s assistant, Meta AI, has remained accessible on the platform. The Commission opened an investigation for abuse of a dominant position and, following our statement of objections on 6 March, in the context of the interim measures procedure, Meta announced that it could once again allow competitors access to WhatsApp. But that access could be subject to a fee”.
The fees are “so high that, in practice, they are not economically viable for competitors. As a result, access to WhatsApp remains blocked for all AI assistants, with the exception of Meta’s assistant”, the Commissioner added, stressing that Meta has provided no convincing justification for these policy changes. The interim measures therefore require Meta to return to the initial situation while the Commission’s investigation continues.
“It appears that Meta intends to exploit WhatsApp’s broad reach and likely dominant position to favour its own AI assistant and eliminate its competitors. This is a critical moment. The AI market is developing at exceptional speed, and AI assistance is expected to become an important means for European consumers to access and use AI”, the Commissioner further argued.
The EU has around 6,700 start-ups specialising in AI in Europe. “We are an innovative continent and we want to invest in this digital economy. We hope that many of them will seize the opportunity to benefit from these interim measures and offer their innovative solutions to your citizens. And what we do not want is for them not even to have the opportunity to try”.
According to a press release, the decision concludes that interim measures are justified in order to prevent serious and irreparable harm to competition in the fast-growing market for general-purpose AI assistants. That conclusion is based, inter alia, on the fact that, since at least January 2023, Meta has, at first sight, held a dominant position in the EEA-wide market for consumer communication applications thanks to WhatsApp. Meta has announced that it will appeal.
Apple. Moreover, on Tuesday 9 June the European Commission rejected accusations by Apple, which had said the previous day that it had been forced to postpone the launch in the EU this autumn of its future assistant Siri AI because of the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and a strict application of European legislation.
The US group cited a conflict with the European Commission over that regulation, which requires certain products or services to be made interoperable in order to promote competition.
According to AFP, Apple said it had proposed a solution to the Commission allowing assistants from third-party developers to use the same functions as Siri AI on iPhone and iPad, which, it said, would make it possible to comply with the DMA while preserving the security of its system, but its proposal was reportedly rejected by the Commission.
“First, the decision not to roll out Siri in the EU is entirely Apple’s. Absolutely nothing in the DMA prohibits Apple from introducing new products in the EU. What Apple is however not allowed to do, just like any other gatekeeper, is to close the market”, Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier reacted on Tuesday 9 June.
“It is not for them to decide who gets to innovate in Europe, and it’s not for them to choose which AI tools our EU citizens get to use or not. And that’s precisely where the DMA and its interoperability obligation comes in”, the spokesperson added. “Because if we want to innovate and to have innovative solutions and more choices for our users, we need fair and open competition among developers”.
The Commission has had several contacts with Apple on this issue. “But Apple was simply unable to develop interoperability solutions that meet essential EU privacy and security standards. It simply made a request to the European Commission to be exempted from their interoperability obligations under the DMA. And this for at least 18 months”. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)