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.
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 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.
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.
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