European Union orders Goal to release free access to WhatsApp for rival AI chatbots

Meta AI can create images based on a command given by the user
Reproduction/WhatsApp
European Union antitrust regulators ordered this Tuesday (9) that Meta allow free access to artificial intelligence chatbots competing with WhatsApp, while they continue to investigate whether the company abused its dominant position by blocking rivals in the messaging app.
The European Commission's decision to impose a provisional measure against Meta - the first of its kind in 17 years - came after complaints from the American company The Interaction Company, developer of the AI assistant Poke.com, from the French startup Agentik and from a Spanish competitor.
The complaints led the Commission, responsible for protecting competition in the EU, to open an investigation in December last year. Two months later, the body filed formal charges against Meta, alleging violations of the bloc's antitrust rules.
"In rapidly evolving markets, competition could be lost long before a final decision is adopted," EU competition chief Teresa Ribera said in a statement. of AI will be able to innovate, grow and reach their full potential", he said.
Meta criticized the European Commission's decision.
"The European Commission has decided that OpenAI and some of the largest companies in the world can use the paid product WhatsApp Business for free", said a company spokesperson via email.
"This is a regulatory overreach subsidized by the many European companies that pay for the service."
In October last year, Meta blocked access to rival AI services. AI to WhatsApp Business programming interface (API), a tool that allows the integration of business systems into the messaging application. The exception was the company's own assistant, Meta AI.
In March, the company once again allowed competitors access, but for a fee - a measure that generated objections from the European Commission.
Under the provisional determination, Meta must reestablish, within five business days, rivals' access to the WhatsApp Business API under the same conditions in force before October.
If found guilty of violating European Union antitrust rules, Meta could be fined up to 10% of its global annual revenue.

Source: G1