WhatsApp has spent the past year in a regulatory tug-of-war over a rule that bars general-purpose AI chatbots from operating on its platform. Italy's competition authority ordered Meta to suspend the policy in December 2025, and by mid-2026 the European Union used antitrust powers to force WhatsApp to reopen access for ChatGPT. For Indian businesses running customer support, order updates, or marketing campaigns through the official WhatsApp Business API, this dispute does not touch their approved bots — but it is a useful signal of how closely regulators are now watching Meta's control over messaging platforms.

The ban that started it

In October 2025, WhatsApp updated its terms of service to prohibit general-purpose chatbots from operating on the platform. The change was widely reported to target rival AI assistants such as ChatGPT and Perplexity, which had begun offering access to their assistants through WhatsApp. Meta positioned the update as a way to protect WhatsApp's core personal-messaging experience, though the timing raised questions since Meta AI continued operating on the same platform.

Italy steps in

By December 2025, Italy's antitrust authority told Meta to suspend enforcement of the ban. The regulator's concern was straightforward: a platform with WhatsApp's reach should not be able to unilaterally lock out competing AI services while keeping its own assistant in place.

The EU widens the fight

The European Union followed with its own antitrust order in mid-2026, compelling Meta to reopen WhatsApp access for ChatGPT under EU competition law. This marked one of the more direct regulatory interventions into how Meta manages third-party access to WhatsApp, and it suggests more scrutiny is likely as AI assistants increasingly compete for the same messaging real estate.

What this means for businesses using the WhatsApp Business API

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