Italy has ordered Meta to suspend its policy that bans companies from using WhatsApp\u2019s business tools to offer their own AI chatbots on the popular chat app.<\/p>\n
The Italian Competition Authority (AGCM) on Wednesday said<\/a> it had found enough cause in its ongoing investigation into whether Meta was abusing its dominant position in the market to offer its Meta AI chatbot within WhatsApp to order the suspension of the policy.<\/p>\n \u201cMeta\u2019s conduct appears to constitute an abuse, since it may limit production, market access, or technical developments in the AI Chatbot services market, to the detriment of consumers,\u201d the Authority wrote. \u201cMoreover, while the investigation is ongoing, Meta\u2019s conduct may cause serious and irreparable harm to competition in the affected market, undermining contestability.\u201d<\/p>\n The AGCM in November had broadened the scope of an existing investigation into Meta, after the company changed its business API policy<\/a>\u00a0in October\u00a0to ban general-purpose chatbots from being offered on the chat app via the API.<\/p>\n Meta has argued that its API isn\u2019t designed to be a platform for the distribution of chatbots and that people have more avenues beyond WhatsApp to use AI bots from other companies. The policy change, which goes into effect in January, would affect the availability of AI chatbots from the likes of OpenAI, Perplexity, and Poke on the app.<\/p>\n The policy doesn\u2019t affect businesses that are using AI to serve customers on WhatsApp. For instance, a retailer running an AI-powered customer service bot won\u2019t be barred from using the API. Only AI chatbots like ChatGPT or Claude are prohibited from being distributed via the API.<\/p>\n