Meta has updated its policy to allow third-party artificial intelligence chatbots on WhatsApp in certain regions after regulatory pressure from the European Union. The revised rule opens the platform to rival AI services, but companies will need to pay a fee for each non-template message their chatbot sends to users.
The change comes after the EU raised concerns that Meta’s earlier restrictions violated competition rules. However, the company has only applied this exception to 30 countries for now.
Earlier, in October 2025, Meta modified its WhatsApp Business application programming interface (API) policy to block third-party AI chatbots from operating on the platform. The restrictions officially came into effect on January 15. As a result, AI chatbots such as ChatGPT, Copilot, and others were deactivated from WhatsApp Business. The company did not explain the exact reason for the restriction, although reports suggested that these AI services could compete directly with Meta AI.
The company clarified its stance by stating, “AI Providers are only permitted to offer general-purpose AI assistants on the WhatsApp Business Platform where Meta is legally required to permit this use case.”
Following the decision, the EU criticised the move and described it as anti-competitive. Regulators warned that interim measures could be introduced to prevent potential harm to competing AI companies. Similar concerns were raised by Italy’s watchdog in December, which pushed Meta to allow rival AI chatbots in the country for a fee.
According to the updated policy document, Meta will charge third-party AI providers for every non-template message their chatbot sends to users in regions where the company is legally required to allow such services.
The rule currently applies to 30 countries. Out of these, 26 are members of the EU, 3 belong to the European Economic Area (EEA), and the remaining country is Brazil.
A technology publication reported that the fee could range between EUR 0.0490 (around Rs. 5) and EUR 0.1323 (around Rs. 14) per non-template message, depending on the country. Since conversations with AI chatbots can involve dozens of messages, the total cost for AI providers could increase significantly.
A Meta spokesperson said, “For the next 12 months, we’ll support general-purpose AI chatbots using the WhatsApp Business API in Europe in response to the European Commission’s regulatory process. We believe that this removes the need for any immediate intervention as it gives the European Commission the time it needs to conclude its investigation.”
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