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An Italian watchdog has ordered Facebook parent company Meta Platforms to suspend a policy that excludes rival AI chatbot services from messaging WhatsApp. According to reports, the social media giant risks distorting competition on the market for AI chatbots in Italy, prompting regulators to issue an interim order against the company. Meta is already facing a probe by the EU for possible breach of the bloc’s competition rules after the social media company announced in October a policy that prohibited AI providers from using a tool allowing businesses to reach customers via WhatsApp when AI is the main service offered. Meta’s conduct may threaten competition The Italian Competition Authority, known as AGCM revealed on Wednesday that the order follows an investigation to assess the integration of Meta’s own services into WhatsApp. The investigation is still ongoing, according to the AGCM. The authority expressed concerns that Meta’s behavior might threaten competition. As such, the interim order is meant to preserve access to the WhatsApp platform for the social media giant’s AI competitors as investigations into the matter continue. Meta has previously indicated that it was liaising with the authority on the investigation, adding that the WhatsApp application programming interface was never designed to be used for AI chatbots. But the authority is positive that Meta’s conduct may pose a serious threat to competition with the social networking giant abusing its dominant position. “Meta’s 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.” AGCM. Earlier this year, the AGCM launched an investigation to evaluate whether AI features that Meta had introduced on WhatsApp amounted to an abuse of a dominant position. Last month, the authority widened the scope of the probe to include a…

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Filed under: News - @ December 24, 2025 12:27 pm