Meta under UE Antitrust spotlight

Source: Il Sole 24 Ore – “Meta, EU Antitrust Puts the Spotlight on AI Integrated into WhatsApp”, 5 December 2025

Integrated AI and restricted competition: the core of the European investigation

The European Union has opened a new formal proceeding against Meta, accusing the company of hindering competition in the field of conversational artificial intelligence services. At the heart of the case is the integration of Meta AI within WhatsApp: a native feature which, according to Brussels, risks preventing third-party providers from offering alternative services on the platform.

The Commission fears that Meta is exploiting its infrastructural advantage to build a monopoly in AI applied to messaging — a sector set to become strategically crucial in the coming years.

When the platform becomes the market

As Il Sole 24 Ore points out, WhatsApp already allows certain companies to communicate through independent chatbots. However, the introduction of a native AI function — combined with new platform usage rules — could:

• make the technical integration of external AI solutions difficult,

• push businesses and users toward proprietary tools,

• create an invisible yet effective competitive barrier.

This is not merely a technical update: it is an attempt to turn WhatsApp into a mandatory gateway to conversational AI, leveraging a user base of two billion people.

A sector caught between innovation and infrastructural power

Meta rejects the allegations as “unfounded,” arguing that the AI market is competitive and that users and businesses have access to a variety of services. Nevertheless, European authorities identify a systemic risk: when a platform dominates communication, data and the distribution of innovation, the line between competition and abuse of technological power becomes dangerously thin.

The case unfolds within a broader context. Meta has already faced sanctions related to the DMA, privacy and data-driven advertising; attention is now shifting to the company’s ability to influence — and potentially control — the entire market for AI applied to communication.

Why this matters to citizens: AI as the invisible mediator of our relationships

The forced integration of AI into WhatsApp does not affect competition alone: it reshapes how users interact, what they see, which information they receive and which tools they are able to choose.

When a platform becomes too large, it acquires an almost institutional role, setting the conditions of social communication without users being able to meaningfully negotiate them. This is where consumer protection and digital rights become essential.

Algopolio’s contribution: defending autonomy, transparency and real alternatives

Algopolio acts precisely where technological power risks suffocating freedom and pluralism by:

• analysing potentially anti-competitive practices,

• supporting users and businesses facing digital impositions or restrictions,

• promoting rules that ensure real choice, not merely apparent choice,

• monitoring how AI and platforms influence interactions, privacy and access to knowledge.

When a platform becomes an essential infrastructure, transparency is no longer optional — it is a right. And if anyone believes they have suffered harm, discrimination or a restriction of digital freedom linked to the use of WhatsApp or Meta AI, Algopolio can provide assistance, protection and independent technical assessments.

Because AI must not be an imposition. It must be an informed choice.