The European Commission has opened an antitrust investigation into U.S.-based Meta Platforms Inc. This move comes after WhatsApp’s big policy change that will ban generic AI chatbots on their messaging platform. Teresa Ribera, executive vice-president for Clean, Just and Competitive Transition, European Commission. She emphasized the importance of enabling European citizens and businesses to reap the benefits of the fourth industrial revolution currently underway.
WhatsApp shared the new policy for its business API in October. It will go into effect in January. This amendment is a direct jab at the big companies that are deploying very open-ended, general purpose chatbots like OpenAI, Perplexity, and Poke. The company admitted that its API was not originally intended for chatbot distribution. This caused a lot of chatter about overloading the system.
In her appearance in Malta, as well as previous comments, Ribera pointed to the booming AI market, spreading throughout Europe and beyond. She said it’s important to ensure that the dominant digital players can’t use their market power to undercut competition.
“AI markets are booming in Europe and beyond. We must ensure European citizens and businesses can benefit fully from this technological revolution and act to prevent dominant digital incumbents from abusing their power to crowd out innovative competitors,” – Teresa Ribera
The European Commission’s investigation seeks to protect competition by establishing if Meta’s sudden policy shift breaches competition law. Ribera noted that time was of the essence. This is key in preventing any irreparable harm to competition in the rapidly-developing AI space.
“This is why we are investigating if Meta’s new policy might be illegal under competition rules, and whether we should act quickly to prevent any possible irreparable harm to competition in the AI space,” – Teresa Ribera
What’s more, WhatsApp has double downed on its legal arguments. In April, a spokesperson said the explosion of AI chatbots across its Business API is creating an unsustainable burden on their infrastructure. They claimed that people continue to have access to multiple AI services. Even with these rapid changes, these services are readily available today on app stores and through other platforms.
“The emergence of AI chatbots on our Business API puts a strain on our systems that they were not designed to support,” – WhatsApp spokesperson
The AI spokesperson claimed that the AI market continues to be competitive, providing consumers with a variety of ways to engage with the service outside of WhatsApp.
“Even still, the AI space is highly competitive and people have access to the services of their choice in any number of ways, including app stores, search engines, email services, partnership integrations, and operating systems,” – WhatsApp spokesperson
As the investigation unfolds, stakeholders in the tech industry will be closely monitoring the implications of WhatsApp’s new policy and the European Commission’s actions regarding competition laws in the rapidly evolving AI landscape.