Meta has submitted a European Commission proposal to allow rival AI chatbots free access to WhatsApp in Europe up to a usage threshold, with fees applying after the cap. The proposal follows a European Commission signal that a formal order could be issued under the Digital Markets Act to require Meta to open WhatsApp to third-party AI services. Meta previously blocked third-party AI assistants on WhatsApp on 15 January, affecting services including ChatGPT, Copilot, and Perplexity. Meta partially relented in March by agreeing to open WhatsApp to rival chatbots but with a $0.0625-per-message fee that regulators and companies viewed as commercially prohibitive. The new proposal is a third iteration aimed at meeting antitrust concerns while preserving a revenue-based approach beyond the cap.
"Meta has filed a fresh European Commission proposal that would give rival AI chatbots, including OpenAI's ChatGPT, Perplexity, Anthropic's Claude and others, free access to WhatsApp in Europe up to a usage threshold, then start charging beyond it, Reuters reported on Monday , citing people familiar with the matter."
"The proposal was submitted last week after the European Commission signalled it was considering a formal order forcing Meta to open WhatsApp to third-party AI services under the Digital Markets Act. Meta blocked all third-party AI assistants on WhatsApp on 15 January, an action that affected ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, Perplexity, and several smaller third-party assistants that had built distribution inside the messaging app."
"Meta partially relented in March, agreeing to open WhatsApp to rival chatbots but at a $0.0625-per-message fee, a structure both regulators and the affected AI companies treated as commercially prohibitive. The new proposal is the third iteration of the same posture. Free access up to a usage cap is the structure that regulators across multiple jurisdictions have been pushing for since the original ban."
"Meta is attempting to land a compromise that satisfies the European Commission's antitrust review without entirely abandoning the per-message-revenue framework it tried to introduce in March. The Commission is reviewing the proposal alongside the broader Digital Markets Act gatekeeper obligations workstream. What the new structure actually delivers in practice depends on the cap."
Read at TNW | Meta
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