Brazil's competition authority has ordered WhatsApp to halt a policy prohibiting third-party AI companies from using its business API to offer chatbots on the app. The agency also launched an investigation against the company to determine whether the policy was anti-competitive.
“The investigation concludes that exclusive anti-competitive conduct is likely to result from the application of the new WhatsApp Terms and Conditions (“Whatsapp Business Solutions Terms”) imposed by Meta to regulate access to and offering of its technology to WhatsApp users by artificial intelligence tool providers” – Conselho Administrativo de Defesa Econômica (CADE) he said.
CADE said it would investigate whether Meta's terms preclude competition and unduly favor Meta AI, the company's chatbot offered on WhatsApp.
Last October, Meta changed its terms of use for the WhatsApp Business API to prohibit third-party AI companies from offering chatbots in the app. Companies like OpenAIPerplexity and Microsoft soon thereafter noted that once these policies went into effect on January 15, their chatbots would no longer be offered on WhatsApp. It's worth noting that Meta's policy doesn't stop companies from offering their own chatbots, AI-based or otherwise, to their customers within WhatsApp.
CADE's investigation comes after the European Union, like Italy, launched its own antitrust investigation into the new policy. If the EU finds Meta to be in breach of its antitrust laws, it could be fined up to 10% of its global revenues.
Meta told AI providers that they can continue to offer their AI chatbots to users in Italy even after the new rules go into effect on January 15, according to a notice to developers seen by TechCrunch. At CADE's direction, the company could make a similar decision in Brazil.
Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside normal business hours.
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The company has consistently maintained that AI chatbots burden its systems, which were designed for various business API applications. Meta has even said in the past that people who want to use various chatbots can do so outside of WhatsApp.
“The goal of the WhatsApp Business API is to help businesses provide customer service and send relevant updates. We are focused on supporting the tens of thousands of businesses that are building these experiences on WhatsApp,” a Meta spokesperson said when the company changed its terms in October.
