Brazil’s competition watchdog has ordered WhatsApp to retain a policy that prohibits third-party AI companies from using business APIs to offer chatbots within the app. The agency has also launched an investigation into the company to determine whether the policy is anti-competitive.
“According to the investigation, there is a possibility of anti-competitive actions of an exclusive nature arising from the application of the New WhatsApp Terms (“WhatsApp Business Solution Terms”) implemented by Meta to manage access and offers, by the provider of artificial intelligence tools, the technology to WhatsApp users, “Conselho Administrativo de Defesa Econômica (CADE) said.
CADE said it will investigate if Meta’s requirement is exclusivity for competitors and does not favor Meta AI, the company’s chatbot offered on WhatsApp.
Meta last October changed the terms of use for WhatsApp Business API to ban third-party AI companies from offering chatbots in apps. A rich company OpenAIConfused, and Microsoft Shortly after it was noted that after the policy from January 15th, chatbots will no longer be offered on WhatsApp. In particular, Meta’s policy does not prevent businesses from offering their own chatbots, AI-powered or otherwise, on WhatsApp to customers.
The CADE investigation comes after the European Union launched it own antitrust investigation into the new policyas it has been Italy. If the EU finds Meta in violation of antitrust rules, it could be fined up to 10% of global revenue.
Meta has told AI providers that they can continue to offer AI chatbots to users in Italy despite the new rules coming into effect on January 15, according to a notice to developers seen by TechCrunch. Companies can make similar decisions in Brazil under CADE’s mandate.
Meta did not immediately respond to requests for comment outside of regular business hours.
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The company has consistently maintained that AI chatbots are disrupting systems designed for multiple uses of business APIs. Meta has even said before that people who want to use different chatbots can do so outside of WhatsApp.
“The purpose of the WhatsApp Business API is to help businesses provide customer support and deliver relevant updates. Our focus is to support the tens of thousands of businesses that build these experiences on WhatsApp,” said a spokesperson for Meta when the company changed the term in October.