The European Union has warned Meta it may be forced to open WhatsApp to rival AI chatbots, as regulators step up scrutiny of the amid concerns they could damage competition across Europe.

The European Commission said Meta’s approach risked “irreparably harming competition in Europe”, after concluding in a statement of objections that the company may have breached EU antitrust rules by excluding third-party AI assistants from accessing and interacting with users on WhatsApp.

WhatsApp currently offers its own chatbot through Meta AI, which uses genAI technology to answer questions, hold conversations with users and generate images. Regulators believe Meta has effectively banned competitors from the platform, preventing rival AI services from reaching consumers.

The Commission said it considers Meta likely to be abusing its dominant position in the wider consumer communications market in Europe by refusing other businesses access to WhatsApp, blocking rival AI chatbots in the process.

Teresa Ribera, the European Commission executive in charge of competition policy, said: “Artificial intelligence is bringing incredible innovations to consumers, and one of these is the emerging market of AI assistants.

“We must protect effective competition in this vibrant field, which means we cannot allow dominant tech companies to illegally leverage their dominance to give themselves an unfair advantage.

“AI markets are developing at rapid pace, so we also need to be swift in our action.

“That is why we are considering quickly imposing interim measures on Meta, to preserve access for competitors to WhatsApp while the investigation is ongoing, and avoid Meta’s new policy irreparably harming competition in Europe.”

The European Union sent its statement of objections to Meta Platforms on Monday as part of an ongoing investigation into how the company treats rival AI chatbots on its WhatsApp messaging service.

The Commission said it intends to impose interim measures after Meta changed its policies to prevent competing chatbots from tapping into WhatsApp’s business tools, which allow companies to communicate with customers via the app.

Meta announced in October that it would impose a new policy effectively banning developers of rival chatbots such as ChatGPT from using WhatsApp’s business interface. The EU opened its investigation in December, with Ribera saying at the time that officials were considering interim measures – an effective injunction on business practices – while the probe is active.

The Commission said there was an “urgent need” to apply protective measures, warning: “Meta’s conduct risks raising barriers to entry and expansion, and irreparably marginalizing smaller competitors on the market for general-purpose AI assistants.”

The statement of objections applies across the EU except in Italy, where national antitrust regulators are running a separate investigation into WhatsApp’s AI policies. Italy’s competition authority ordered Meta in December to keep WhatsApp open to rival chatbots as part of that probe.

Meta has the opportunity to respond to the Commission’s concerns and defend its policy.

A Meta spokesperson said: “The facts are that there is no reason for the EU to intervene in the WhatsApp Business API (application programming interface).

“There are many AI options and people can use them from app stores, operating systems, devices, websites, and industry partnerships.

“The Commission’s logic incorrectly assumes the WhatsApp Business API is a key distribution channel for these chatbots.”

The company reiterated that position in further comments, saying regulators had wrongly assumed WhatsApp’s business programming interface is a key route to market for AI assistants. “There are many AI options and people can use them from app stores, operating systems, devices, websites and industry partnerships,” a Meta spokesperson said.

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EU competition regulators have now threatened to prevent Meta Platforms from blocking AI rivals from WhatsApp while the investigation continues into suspected abuse of a dominant market position.

“We must protect effective competition in this vibrant field, which means we cannot allow dominant tech companies to illegally leverage their dominance to give themselves an unfair advantage,” Ribera said in a statement.

“That is why we are considering quickly imposing interim measures on Meta, to preserve access for competitors to WhatsApp while the investigation is ongoing and avoid Meta’s new policy irreparably harming competition in Europe.”

Meta said again there was no reason for EU intervention.