WhatsApp Undergoes Major Shift as EU Orders Meta to Grant Free Access to Rival AI Chatbots

Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia - American technology giants are facing mounting pressure from European Union authorities. Through the Digital Services Act (DSA) and Digital Markets Act (DMA), the EU has imposed fines on several US tech giants deemed to be engaging in monopolistic practices.

The European Commission has also repeatedly forced tech giants to alter their business models, including Meta Platforms, which oversees WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, and Threads.

Since November 2025, Meta has banned third-party chatbots from operating on WhatsApp. This immediately drew a negative response from the European Commission.

The institution has now ordered Meta to restore access for third-party services, namely competitors, to provide free AI assistants on WhatsApp. This order must be implemented until the European Commission’s anti-monopoly investigation into Meta is completed.

In an official statement, the European Commission stated that this step must be taken to avoid negative impacts on the competitive climate. The Commission’s anti-monopoly probe into Meta’s blocking of third-party chatbots on WhatsApp has been underway since December 2025.

This order represents the interim measures previously mentioned.

The European Commission’s order is based on the fact that “Meta, at first glance, has held a dominant position in the consumer communications app market across the entire European Economic Area since at least January 2023”.

“The company has abused this dominant position by preventing competing general-purpose AI assistants from using the WhatsApp for Business API,” according to the Commission, as cited by Reuters on Thursday (11/6/2026).

Last March, Meta actually opened access for third-party AI chatbots to WhatsApp. However, that access was paid, not free. The European Commission considers this practice to be effectively the same as the blocking measures Meta previously implemented.

The Commission’s latest order returns Meta to the conditions before October 2025, where third-party chatbot services could access WhatsApp for free. Meta is required to comply with this until the Commission issues a final decision on the case.