Italy’s competition watchdog has moved aggressively against Meta, ordering the company to scrap WhatsApp rules that blocked rival AI chatbots from plugging into the messaging app. The interim decision forces Meta to reopen one of the world’s most important communications platforms to competing artificial intelligence services while regulators dig into whether the company abused its power.
At stake is far more than a contractual tweak. The order tests how far European authorities are willing to go to stop dominant messaging apps from turning into closed AI ecosystems, and it signals that Italy is prepared to challenge Meta’s strategy at the very moment AI assistants are becoming a primary way people interact online.
Italy’s watchdog steps in to stop a new kind of lockout
Italian regulators did not wait for long term damage before intervening. The Italian Competition and Market Guarantee Authority, often referred to as the Antitrust Authority, concluded that Meta’s new WhatsApp terms, which restricted access for competing AI chatbots, risked distorting how AI services could reach users on the app. Officials framed the move as an emergency response to a looming structural shift in messaging, where AI assistants are starting to feel like a “primary functionality” rather than a novelty.
According to the Antitrust Authority, Meta’s conduct appears abusive because it is likely to limit the production, or at least the availability, of AI services that rely on WhatsApp as a channel to interact with users on Italian territory, a concern spelled out in a formal notice from According Antitrust Authority, Meta. By treating AI chatbots as something that can be fenced off through terms of service, the watchdog signaled that it sees competition risks in the very architecture of how digital assistants are integrated into messaging platforms.
The contested WhatsApp terms that triggered the clash
At the heart of the dispute are new WhatsApp conditions that Meta introduced for AI integrations. Those terms effectively banned rival AI chatbots from using the app’s infrastructure, shutting out third party assistants that wanted to interact with users through WhatsApp conversations. Italian authorities described these clauses as “terms banning rival AI chatbots from using WhatsApp” and ordered Meta to remove them so that competing services could once again connect to the messaging app.
Regulators stressed that Meta, a leading technology company, had tried to define its own AI assistant as a core part of WhatsApp, while treating external chatbots as optional add ons that could be excluded. The Italian Competition and Market Guarantee Authority argued that this framing, combined with Meta’s market position, could unfairly tilt the field in favor of the company’s in house assistant, and it formally instructed Meta to strip out the offending language from its conditions, as detailed when Italian authorities order Meta the removal of those terms.
An interim order with high competitive stakes
The Italian move is not a final verdict but an interim order, yet the language used by regulators underscores how seriously they view the potential harm. Italy’s competition regulator, which opened a broader antitrust investigation into Meta’s conduct, said the interim measure was necessary because Meta’s behavior “may cause serious and irreparable harm to competition in the affected markets” if left unchecked while the probe runs its course. In other words, by the time a full case concluded, rival AI services might already have been pushed out of a critical distribution channel.
Officials in Rome framed the order as a way to preserve open access to WhatsApp for AI developers while they assess whether Meta’s strategy violates European rules on competition and digital services. The same authority noted that its scrutiny sits alongside the European Union’s Digital Services Act, or DSA, which regulates content and platform responsibilities, highlighting that the WhatsApp case touches both competition law and the emerging framework for large online intermediaries, as reported when Italy’s competition regulator described the need for the interim order.
Meta ordered to pause and reopen WhatsApp to rivals
In practical terms, the watchdog’s decision forces Meta to hit pause on its new WhatsApp policy and restore the status quo for AI integrations. Italy has formally ordered Meta to suspend the policy that limited rival AI chatbots on WhatsApp, instructing the company to stop applying the contested conditions while the antitrust investigation continues. That means third party AI assistants that had been blocked or deterred by the new terms must be allowed to operate again for users in Italy.
The order does more than freeze the policy, it explicitly requires Meta to allow rival AI chatbots to function on WhatsApp under non discriminatory conditions. Regulators framed this as a necessary safeguard to prevent Meta from leveraging its control over the messaging app to favor its own AI offerings, a concern that is central to the ongoing antitrust probe into Italy Orders Meta to Pause Policy Limiting Rival AI and to the broader examination of Meta’s conduct.
How Italy’s stance fits into Europe’s wider AI and messaging debate
Italy’s intervention does not happen in a vacuum. Across Europe, regulators are increasingly uneasy about messaging apps turning into closed ecosystems just as AI services become central to how people search, shop and communicate. WhatsApp’s scale, combined with Meta’s push to embed its own AI assistant deeply into the app, has raised concerns that a single company could control both the messaging layer and the AI layer, limiting the space for independent competitors.
Analysts have pointed out that WhatsApp’s market power gives Meta a unique ability to shape which AI tools users encounter first, and how easily they can switch between them. The Italian order reflects a broader European debate over whether dominant platforms should be allowed to bundle their own AI services in ways that disadvantage rivals, a tension highlighted in assessments of WhatsApp and market power and the regulatory unease around Meta’s AI ambitions.
Rome’s message to Big Tech on AI access
Officials in Rome have been explicit that they see WhatsApp as too important a channel to be locked down around a single company’s AI. The Italian capital has become the stage for a high profile confrontation in which regulators are telling Meta that it cannot unilaterally decide which AI chatbots are allowed to interact with users on the app. By pushing Meta to allow other AIs on WhatsApp, Rome is signaling that access to key digital infrastructure is now a frontline issue in AI policy, not just a technical integration question.
Reports from Rome describe how authorities view the new WhatsApp rules as part of a broader pattern in which Meta seeks to integrate its own AI assistant into messaging, social networks and other services that already enjoy massive user bases. The decision to intervene, and to do so through an interim order, underscores that Italy is prepared to act quickly when it believes competition is at risk, a stance captured in coverage of how Rome pushes Meta to allow other AIs on WhatsApp that can interact with users.
What the order means for AI startups and rival chatbots
For AI startups and established rivals that have built services around messaging, the Italian order is a lifeline. Many of these companies rely on WhatsApp as a way to reach users without building their own messaging infrastructure, offering everything from customer support bots for small businesses to personal assistants that help with travel, finance or education. A blanket ban on rival AI chatbots inside WhatsApp would have cut off that access, forcing developers either to accept Meta’s terms or to lose a crucial distribution channel.
By banning Meta from blocking competing AI chatbot use on WhatsApp, Italian authorities are effectively reopening the door for these services to operate on equal footing, at least within Italy. The decision sends a signal that regulators are willing to protect the ability of third party AI tools to plug into dominant platforms, a point underscored when coverage noted that Italy bans Meta from blocking competing AI chatbot use on WhatsApp and linked that decision to Subscribe Italy Bans Meta From Blocking Competing AI Chatbot Use On Colin Kirkland and the scrutiny of Meta’s new terms this month.
Inside the formal order to allow rival AI chatbots
The formal language of the Italian order is precise. The watchdog instructed Meta to allow rival AI chatbots in WhatsApp, making clear that the company must not only suspend the restrictive terms but also ensure that competing services can actually function on the platform. A Meta spokesman has acknowledged the order and indicated that the company would comply while also signaling that it reserves the right to challenge the decision through legal channels, a familiar pattern in high stakes regulatory disputes.
The order is framed as an update to the ongoing investigation, reflecting the watchdog’s view that immediate action is needed to prevent lasting damage to competition while the case proceeds. By explicitly referencing rival AI chatbots and WhatsApp in the same breath, the authority is drawing a direct line between platform governance and AI market structure, a connection that is central to the Italy Watchdog Orders Meta to Allow Rival AI Chatbots in WhatsApp Update and to the broader Global News Select coverage of the case.
Global implications as Italy challenges Meta’s AI strategy
Although the order applies to conduct on Italian territory, its implications reach far beyond Italy’s borders. Meta operates WhatsApp as a global service, and any requirement to treat rival AI chatbots differently in one major European market raises questions about whether the company can maintain a single, uniform policy worldwide. Other regulators, particularly within Europe, will be watching closely to see whether Italy’s approach becomes a template for ensuring that dominant messaging platforms remain open to third party AI services.
The case also feeds into a broader narrative about how governments are responding to Big Tech’s AI strategies. By forcing Meta to roll back terms that would have locked out competitors, Italy is testing whether traditional competition tools can keep pace with the rapid integration of AI into everyday apps, a theme echoed in reports from Rome that describe how authorities are pushing Meta to allow other AIs on WhatsApp and how the story has been picked up by outlets such as Rome pushes Meta AFP Updated coverage of the dispute.
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