Thursday, July 31, 2025 - Italian authorities have opened an investigation into Meta over possible violations of European Union competition laws following the integration of its artificial intelligence tool, Meta AI, into the WhatsApp messaging platform.
In a statement released on Wednesday, Italy’s antitrust
regulator said the probe focuses on whether Meta leveraged its dominant market
position by embedding its AI assistant into WhatsApp without offering users a
real choice.
“In March 2025, Meta, which holds a dominant position in the
market for consumer communications apps, decided to pre-install its artificial
intelligence service on the WhatsApp app,” the statement read. “In doing so,
Meta may be ‘imposing’ the use of its chatbot and AI assistance services on its
users.”
The authority expressed concern that this move could allow
Meta to steer its vast WhatsApp user base into the growing AI services market,
not through fair competition, but by preloading the tool and limiting user
options.
It added, “By merging Meta AI with WhatsApp, Meta could be
channeling its customer base into the emerging market, not through merit-based
competition, but by ‘imposing’ the availability of the two distinct services
upon users, potentially harming competitors.”
Officials also warned of the potential for users to become
“locked in” to the service, noting that the AI’s usefulness and relevance
improve the more it is used, creating a functional dependency.
On Tuesday, inspectors from the antitrust agency,
accompanied by Italy’s Financial Police, searched the offices of Meta’s Italian
subsidiary as part of the investigation. The probe is being conducted in
coordination with relevant departments of the European Commission.
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