By Samuel Stolton | Updated on Jun 09, 2026 at 04:59 PM
Meta Platforms Inc. has been ordered by the European Union to temporarily halt policies that allegedly block rival AI firms from operating on its WhatsApp messaging service for businesses.
The European Commission said Tuesday that Meta must “restore free access to WhatsApp for rival general purpose AI assistants” within five working days in order to “prevent serious and irreparable damage to competition.” Meta vowed to appeal the measure.
The order comes after Meta introduced changes seen by critics as unfairly preventing rival AI providers from offering their business services through WhatsApp. The escalation marks a further frustration for Meta in the EU, where it has locked horns with regulators in several costly cases for the Menlo Park, California, firm.
The EU’s executive arm “has decided that OpenAI and some of the largest companies in the world can use the paid-for WhatsApp Business product for free,” Meta said in an emailed statement after the commission announcement.
In April last year, Meta came in for a €200 million ($231 million) fine for allegedly breaching the DMA, and in November 2024 it was ordered to pay €798 million for tying its Facebook Marketplace service to its social network — something regulators said amounted to an abuse of dominance.
Read More: Big Tech’s ‘Entire’ AI Operations Under EU Antitrust Scrutiny
US President Donald Trump has long railed against EU tech and antitrust regulation impeding American companies. In August, he threatened to impose fresh tariffs and export restrictions on advanced technology and semiconductors in retaliation to other nations’ digital services taxes that hit American technology companies.
If the US tech giant fails to comply with the EU interim measures order, it could potentially be hit by a fine of as high as 10% of global annual revenue as well as daily penalties, but EU fines seldom reach these levels. The Brussels-based executive added that the interim measures should be in place until the end of regulators’ probe — which doesn’t have a set deadline.
“In rapidly evolving markets, competition can be lost long before a final decision is adopted,” EU competition chief Teresa Ribera said in a statement on the order. “This is why these interim measures will remain in place for the duration of the investigation, in order to prevent harm that would be almost impossible to repair.”
Italian regulators were the first to examine alleged competitive distortions arising from the AI policies of WhatsApp. But the Brussels-based commission has since expanded its probe to cover Italy too.