Brazil’s competition watchdog has ordered WhatsApp to put on hold its policy that bars third-party AI companies from using its business API to offer chatbots on the app. The agency has also started an investigation against the company to determine if the policy is anti-competitive.
“According to the investigations, there is possible anti-competitive conduct of an exclusive nature that arises from the application of the New WhatsApp Terms (“WhatsApp Business Solution Terms”) imposed by Meta to regulate the access and offer, by providers of artificial intelligence tools, of its technologies to WhatsApp users,” the Conselho Administrativo de Defesa Econômica (CADE) said.
CADE said it would investigate if Meta’s terms are exclusionary to competitors and unduly favor Meta AI, the company’s chatbot that’s offered on WhatsApp.
Meta last October changed its terms of use for the WhatsApp Business API to ban third-party AI companies from offering their chatbots on the app. Companies like OpenAI, Perplexity, and Microsoft soon after noted that after the policy goes into force from January 15, their chatbots would no longer be offered on WhatsApp. Notably, Meta’s policy does not stop businesses from offering their own chatbots, AI-powered or otherwise, within WhatsApp to their customers.
CADE’s investigation comes after the European Union launched its own antitrust investigation into the new policy, as has Italy. If the EU finds Meta in breach of its antitrust rules, it could be fined up to 10% of its global revenue.
Meta has told AI providers that they can continue offering their AI chatbots to users in Italy even after the new rules go into force on January 15, according to a notice to developers seen by TechCrunch. The company could make a similar decision in Brazil following CADE’s order.
Meta did not immediately respond to a request for a comment outside regular business hours.
Join the Disrupt 2026 Waitlist
Add yourself to the Disrupt 2026 waitlist to be first in line when Early Bird tickets drop. Past Disrupts have brought Google Cloud, Netflix, Microsoft, Box, Phia, a16z, ElevenLabs, Wayve, Hugging Face, Elad Gil, and Vinod Khosla to the stages — part of 250+ industry leaders driving 200+ sessions built to fuel your growth and sharpen your edge. Plus, meet the hundreds of startups innovating across every sector.
Join the Disrupt 2026 Waitlist
Add yourself to the Disrupt 2026 waitlist to be first in line when Early Bird tickets drop. Past Disrupts have brought Google Cloud, Netflix, Microsoft, Box, Phia, a16z, ElevenLabs, Wayve, Hugging Face, Elad Gil, and Vinod Khosla to the stages — part of 250+ industry leaders driving 200+ sessions built to fuel your growth and sharpen your edge. Plus, meet the hundreds of startups innovating across every sector.
|
October 13-15, 2026
The company has consistently maintained that AI chatbots are straining its systems that were designed for different uses of its business API. Meta has even said in the past that people who want to use different chatbots can do so outside WhatsApp.
“The purpose of the WhatsApp Business API is to help businesses provide customer support and send relevant updates. Our focus is on supporting the tens of thousands of businesses who are building these experiences on WhatsApp,” a Meta spokesperson said when the company changed the terms in October.
Original Source: https://techcrunch.com/2026/01/13/brazil-orders-meta-to-suspend-policy-banning-third-party-ai-chatbots-from-whatsapp/
Disclaimer: This article is a reblogged/syndicated piece from a third-party news source. Content is provided for informational purposes only. For the most up-to-date and complete information, please visit the original source. Digital Ground Media does not claim ownership of third-party content and is not responsible for its accuracy or completeness.
