Must Meta Open WhatsApp to Competing AI Assistants?

In this blog post for Steptoe, authors Robert Klotz & Lucia Rama discuss the European Commission’s June 9 decision requiring Meta to provisionally restore free access to the WhatsApp Business API for competing general-purpose AI assistants. The measure, adopted under Article 8 of Regulation 1/2003, is linked to the Commission’s ongoing investigation into whether Meta abused its dominant position under Article 102 TFEU. The proceedings began after Meta excluded third-party AI assistants from the API in October 2025, later reinstating access only subject to a fee that the Commission preliminarily found could have a similar exclusionary effect.

The authors explain that interim measures require a prima facie finding of a potential competition-law infringement and an urgent risk of serious and irreparable harm. Although the Commission has traditionally used this power sparingly, the Meta case reflects the particular challenges of enforcing competition law in rapidly evolving digital markets, where delaying intervention until a final decision could allow competitive structures to become entrenched. The Commission’s approach builds on its earlier Broadcom decision, which recognized that interim measures can address gradual market developments capable of causing lasting competitive harm.

The Commission preliminarily considers Meta dominant in the EEA-wide market for consumer communications applications, with WhatsApp’s extensive user base and network effects creating significant barriers to switching and entry. It also views the withdrawal of previously granted API access as a potential refusal to supply and considers urgent intervention necessary to prevent foreclosure in the emerging market for AI assistants. Meta was therefore ordered to restore access on the same free terms that applied before October 15, 2025, with noncompliance potentially resulting in fines of up to 10% of worldwide annual turnover or periodic penalty payments of up to 5% of average daily turnover.

The decision can be separately appealed to the EU General Court, and Meta has announced that it intends to challenge it. The authors note that the ultimate competition-law case will turn on whether WhatsApp access is genuinely indispensable to competing AI assistants and whether its withdrawal eliminates effective competition. They also examine why the Commission relied on Article 102 TFEU rather than the Digital Markets Act, concluding that the case may signal a broader shift toward using interim measures as a more targeted enforcement tool in fast-moving digital markets, potentially alongside the DMA…

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