Meta has paused its decision to block third-party AI chatbots from WhatsApp. In October 2025, it announced it would ban competing AI chatbots like ChatGPT and Perplexity from using its Business API services, which allow them to offer AI services within WhatsApp’s chat interface.
Reuters reports that a Meta spokesperson said, “For the next 12 months, we’ll support general-purpose AI chatbots using the WhatsApp Business API in Europe in response to the European Commission’s regulatory process.”
This decision followed interventions by Italy’s competition authority and the European Commission, which argued that banning third-party chatbots would harm competition in the AI market.
Some Background
In October 2025, WhatsApp updated its Business Application Programming Interface (API) to block third-party AI chatbots from its platform, stating the intent to preserve user privacy and security. At the time of announcement, Meta planned to implement this feature starting Jan. 15, 2026.
In December 2025, 22 days before the planned rollout, Italy’s competition authority intervened to stop Meta from blocking AI rivals. It warned that Meta’s actions could cause irreversible harm to competition in the AI market.
In February 2026, the European Commission objected, calling Meta’s ban on third-party AI chatbots anti-competitive under EU rules.
EC also revealed the following findings from their preliminary investigation:
- Meta may be abusing its dominance by denying WhatsApp access to third-party AI chatbots.
- Meta’s measures could cause lasting harm to competition.
- Meta’s actions could marginalize smaller AI competitors.
The social media giant noted that this 12-month period will give the EC time to finish its investigation.
Meta’s Rationale for Blocking AI Rivals
When WhatsApp announced this move in October, a Meta spokesperson told TechCrunch that rival AI chatbots’ use of the WhatsApp Business API on its platform increased unexpectedly.
As a result, the high volume of messages from third-party AI bots strained the platform. Meta emphasized that WhatsApp’s Business API is intended for customer support messages and timely updates.
Meta also noted it lacked a mechanism to determine proper charges for AI providers using its APIs, risking valuable revenue loss while handling high message volumes.
Why this Matters
The biggest advantage of having an AI chatbot on a popular messaging platform is its distribution capacity. This broad reach can create network effects for the application. As a result, several chatbots want to onboard WhatsApp. These range from popular apps like ChatGPT and Perplexity to lesser-known apps like Poke.com, a complainant in the EU case. Apps that depend on WhatsApp also include India-based applications offering AI services, such as Reliance’s Haptik AI and PuchAI, a multilingual chatbot accessible through WhatsApp.
At the time of this report, the WhatsApp link on Puch AI’s website remains active. It still redirects users to the WhatsApp application. However, when MediaNama tested it, it returned no results.
Enabling users’ access via WhatsApp can be essential for both businesses and users. When MediaNama tested Poke.com’s features, it didn’t redirect users to WhatsApp. Instead, it redirected users to a standard cellular text messaging app with a prebuilt prompt: “add me to poke :)” When the user sends that text, a notice appears stating that Rs 5 is deducted from the cellular balance. More importantly, even after deducting Rs. 5 per message, there was no response from Poke.com.
Users generally do not need to pay to access AI chatbots on WhatsApp. Only AI companies that subscribe to its Business API services must pay, per its rate cards.
Meta’s Increased Pricing
After Meta’s decision to pause its blocking of AI chatbots, Poke.com alleged that, as a result, Meta increased the prices for AI chatbots.
Poke.com co-founder Marvin von Hagen highlighted the impact, stating in a post on X, “Our average cost per user went from $0.13 to $11.04 – just for the whatsapp api. How does this allow for fair competition?”
For further context on WhatsApp’s business pricing, in July 2025, WhatsApp updated its pricing model from a flat 24-hour window to a per-message rate. These changes, which might affect AI chatbot providers like Poke.com, ranged from Rs. 0.11 for utility messages to Rs. 2.3 for International Authentication. At the time of writing, WhatsApp’s business API page does not specify rate cards for AI companies.
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