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EU Launches Antitrust Probe into Meta’s AI Chatbot Ban

The European Commission has formally launched an antitrust investigation into Meta’s recent policy change regarding the WhatsApp Business API. In October, Meta updated its terms to ban the use of the API for general-purpose AI chatbots, specifically targeting services whose primary function is providing AI (like OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Perplexity). Crucially, the policy still permits businesses to use AI for customer support and ancillary functions. The concern for the EU is clear: this restriction prevents third-party AI providers from reaching customers across the European Economic Area (EEA), effectively giving Meta's own internal product, Meta AI, an unfair monopoly on the widely adopted messaging platform. The EU’s stated goal is to prevent dominant digital incumbents from using their platform power to "crowd out innovative competitors" in the booming AI sector.

Platform Risk for Startups

This investigation offers a powerful lesson on platform risk for startups. WhatsApp is not just an application; it is a critical distribution channel and user interface for customer-facing AI. For early-stage general-purpose AI services, using the WhatsApp Business API was a fast, low-cost way to acquire millions of users and gain distribution without building a custom app interface. Meta’s policy change, set to take full effect in January, represents a sudden and near-total loss of that channel for competitors, forcing them to scramble for new distribution strategies. This incident demonstrates that even if your product is revolutionary, its commercial viability is always secondary to the platform owner's strategic goals. The ability of a dominant gatekeeper to unilaterally revoke access is a major structural challenge to innovation, which the EU is now aggressively addressing.

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