Meta Proposes Free WhatsApp API Access for Rival AI Chatbots in EU

Meta Platforms has submitted a new proposal to European Union regulators that would grant rival artificial intelligence chatbots, including those from OpenAI, Perplexity, and Anthropic, free access to its WhatsApp messaging service in Europe up to a specified usage threshold, after which fees would apply. The offer, confirmed by sources familiar with the matter, represents the company's latest attempt to address an ongoing antitrust investigation under the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA).

The proposal was filed last week after the European Commission signaled it was considering a formal order to compel Meta to open WhatsApp to third-party AI services. This regulatory scrutiny follows a series of policy changes by Meta. In January, the company instituted a blanket ban on all third-party AI assistants within WhatsApp. In March, it partially relented but announced a fee structure of 0.0625 euros per message for rivals, a model widely viewed by regulators and AI companies as commercially prohibitive.

Under the new framework, competing AI services would receive free access to WhatsApp's business Application Programming Interface (API) for an initial one-month integration period. After...