La battle for control of artificial intelligence on major digital platforms It has now reached WhatsApp in full force. The European Commission has focused on Meta and is considering measures to force the company to reopen its messaging service to AI assistants developed by third parties, after Mark Zuckerberg's firm introduced changes that, in Brussels' view, severely restrict competition.
This movement is part of a European Union regulatory offensive against potential abuses of dominant position in markets considered strategic. The objective is significant: to prevent a single company from deciding, virtually on its own, which artificial intelligence assistants have access to a channel as massive as WhatsApp, with millions of users in Spain and the rest of Europe.
What exactly is the European Commission investigating?
The ongoing research is based on the Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Unionwhich prohibits the abuse of a dominant position. The Commission suspects that Meta used its control over WhatsApp to unfairly limit the entry and operation of competing AI assistants within the application.
Specifically, Brussels is analyzing whether Meta has Access restricted to third-party artificial intelligence assistants WhatsApp is being investigated for several potentially anti-competitive practices. Among these, authorities are examining whether the company directly blocked the presence of these rival solutions or imposed such burdensome conditions that, in practice, their use became unfeasible.
Within that review, the Commission checks whether Meta has reached to prevent or technically hinder the integration of other AIs on the platform, if you have established economic requirements that penalize third-party developers or if it has created obstacles that limit the growth of smaller companies that want to compete with their own assistants.
According to the European Commission, this type of limitation can drastically reduce the options available to European users And at the same time, it could stifle innovation in a rapidly expanding field. The main concern is that, without intervention now, the AI ​​assistant market will be effectively closed to new players.
The investigation is not limited to Brussels: coordination with national competition authoritiesAs in Italy, this has led to the case being extended to the entire European Economic Area, reinforcing both the geographical scope and the political weight of the case opened against Meta.
Meta's changes in WhatsApp and the origin of the conflict
The conflict begins with the Changes that Meta introduced to WhatsApp from 2025This occurred when the company decided to modify the terms so that other artificial intelligence assistants could operate within the application. According to the European Commission, these modifications effectively closed the ecosystem in favor of Meta's own AI solutions.
In December 2025, the European Commission formally initiated proceedings after detecting that the company had Access restricted or blocked for rival attendees to the platform. That initial action already pointed to a possible abuse of its dominant position, given WhatsApp's weight in the European messaging market.
From that moment on, Meta announced several changes to its policy. One of the most significant came in March 2026, when the company announced that withdrew the direct access ban It initially relied on third-party AI, but replaced it with a payment system to integrate with WhatsApp. According to the company, this was a reasonable business model for monetizing the use of its infrastructure.
However, for Brussels, this solution doesn't fix the problem, but rather transforms it. The Commission maintains that the The new payment model may result in de facto exclusion. from many competitors, especially startups and smaller companies that cannot afford the high costs of reaching WhatsApp users on equal terms.
Thus, although on paper there is no longer an outright ban, European regulators consider that the real effect of the new tariffs would be very similar to that of a veto, something that, in the eyes of EU competition law, can be equally problematic.
Precautionary measures: the possible obligation to reopen WhatsApp to other AIs
Given the risk that the current situation could cause irreparable damage, the European Commission has opted to activate the path of precautionary measures, an instrument that is not used too often, but which allows for faster action while the main investigation is being resolved.
In February 2026, Brussels already announced its intention to implement these types of preventative measures. Now, with the new supplementary statement of objections, the Executive strengthens the possibility of force Meta to restore full access of third-party artificial intelligence assistants to WhatsApp, and to do so under the same conditions that existed before the changes introduced in 2025.
The Commission's proposal, therefore, involves allowing other companies to participate. resume operating within WhatsApp without additional restrictionsnor disproportionate economic barriers that put competitors at a disadvantage compared to Meta's own AI tools.
This obligation would be temporary, insofar as it is a provisional measure while a final decision is being made on whether or not there has been an abuse of dominant position and, if so, what sanctions or structural remedies would be appropriate.
The European Commission's Executive Vice-President, Teresa Ribera, has stressed that to expel or corner competitors in rapidly evolving marketsThis type of behavior, such as that of artificial intelligence, is precisely what these precautionary measures seek to prevent. The idea is to avoid a situation where, by the time of the final ruling, the market is so concentrated that there is hardly any room left to restore genuine competition.
Why the EU considers this case strategic for AI
Beyond the technical details of the file, in Brussels there is a underlying concern about the power of Big Tech in the development of artificial intelligence. The Commission believes that this market cannot be left in the hands of very few players, especially when it comes to infrastructures with a massive reach like WhatsApp.
For the European regulator, preventing or hindering third-party access to such widespread platforms can to stifle innovation and limit the emergence of new services that compete with those of large multinational corporations. If AI developers depend on the unilateral decisions of a single company to reach millions of users, the innovation capacity of the entire ecosystem is seriously diminished.
Furthermore, the Commission warns that these behaviors may consolidate dominant positions that are very difficult to correct in the future. Once an AI assistant becomes the near-sole option within a leading platform, the cost for users to switch to alternatives is usually high, further reinforcing the dominant operator's advantage.
The European Union, which has already promoted regulations such as the Digital Markets Act and the Digital Services Act, wants to maintain an artificial intelligence market that is as open and competitive as possibleTo achieve this, it considers it essential that startups and innovative projects can offer their services on equal terms, without encountering invisible barriers erected by those who control the major platforms.
In this context, the WhatsApp and Meta case is interpreted as a stress test for European competition policy In the field of AI: if Brussels fails to prevent a possible market closure in time, it could set a precedent that other companies would imitate in different services and applications.
Meta's response and its impact on users and businesses
Meta, for his part, has defended the position of the European Commission It ignores the economic value of the infrastructure that the company makes available from third parties. According to the company, the proposed payment model for other AIs to access WhatsApp responds to the need to sustain and monetize a service that supports large-scale communications.
The company has argued that Brussels is trying allow large corporations to use services for free which are part of their commercial offering, something they consider unbalanced. From their point of view, requiring access to be offered under preconditions, without the possibility of charging for it, could constitute excessive interference with their business freedom.
However, the debate isn't just focused on the big tech firms. For many European startups and small companies, the Commission's decision could have a significant impact. to make the difference between being able to compete or being left out of the gameAccess to a channel like WhatsApp without prohibitive costs could be key for new AI assistants to reach the general public.
For users in Spain and the rest of Europe, the practical impact will be seen in the variety of smart services available within the application itselfA more open environment could translate into more specialized chatbots, assistants adapted to different sectors (healthcare, education, customer service), or tools with more privacy-respecting approaches.
If, on the other hand, the ecosystem remains practically limited to Meta's own solutions, the offering will likely be less diverse and more aligned with the business strategy of a single companyHence, the Commission insists that this case is not just about economic conditions, but also about what kind of artificial intelligence development is being encouraged in Europe.
All this regulatory pressure adds to other open fronts that Meta maintains in the region, including the debate on the impact of social media on the mental health of young peopleAlthough these are separate cases, together they reflect a growing concern among European authorities about the company's influence and responsibility in various areas.
Brussels' pressure to Meta will once again allow other AIs to access WhatsApp in Europe. This case has become a key one in defining how competition will be regulated in the age of artificial intelligence. At stake is not only the relationship between a major technology company and the European Commission, but also the type of market that companies developing AI assistants will have to face and the real options that Spanish and European users will have within the platforms they use daily.
