BRUSSELS – Brussels is planning a new antitrust investigation into Metaplatform over the rollout of artificial intelligence features on WhatsApp, sources told Reuters on Wednesday. This reflects increased scrutiny of Big Tech’s use of generative AI.
The move, first reported by the Financial Times, marks the latest action by European regulators against big technology companies, as the European Union seeks to balance support for the sector with efforts to curb its growing influence.
The European Commission plans to open an investigation in early 2025 into how the California-based company integrated its MetaAI system into its messaging services, the people said on condition of anonymity.
The European Commission declined to comment.
“The claims are baseless,” a WhatsApp spokesperson said in a statement, adding that the emergence of chatbots on the company’s platform is “straining a system it was not designed to support.”
“Still, the AI space is highly competitive, and people can access their preferred services in a variety of ways, including app stores, search engines, email services, partnership integrations, and operating systems,” he added.
Meta AI, a chatbot and virtual assistant, has been integrated into the WhatsApp interface across European markets since March 2025.
Italy’s antitrust watchdog launched a parallel investigation in July into allegations that Meta used its market power by integrating AI tools into WhatsApp.
The investigation expanded in November to investigate whether Meta further abused its dominance by blocking competing AI chatbots from its messaging platform.
The Financial Times reported, citing officials, that the EU investigation will be conducted under traditional antitrust law rather than the EU’s landmark Digital Markets Act, which is currently being used to scrutinize potential restrictions on Amazon and Microsoft’s cloud services. Reuters
