Meta wanted to charge rival AI chatbots to reach WhatsApp users. The European Union just told it to stop.
And it is using a power it has reached for only once before in more than two decades.
The EU told Meta to restore free access to WhatsApp for rival AI bots within five working days. These are "interim measures," a short-term order that holds while the probe goes on.
The EU said it stepped in to stop "serious and irreparable damage to competition." That is strong language, and it does not reach for this tool often.
Put simply, the EU hit the brakes. It wants the old, free setup back while it looks into the case.
In fact, this is only the second time in more than 20 years that the EU has used this rushed power. So the step is both rare and harsh.
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The fight is over the WhatsApp Business pipe that outside AI assistants use to reach users. AI bots used that pipe to talk to people right inside the app.
In plain terms, Meta runs the road these bots drive on. The EU says it cannot block or price out the cars it does not like.
Meta changed its WhatsApp business rules last October to limit outside AI chatbots. The EU opened its probe in December and later threw out Meta's plan to charge rivals for access.
The EU said Meta's fees were so high that rivals could not afford to stay in the app.
The complaints came from smaller players. Two of them were the maker of a chatbot called Poke.com and a French startup named Agentik.
The price for ignoring the order is steep, up to 10% of Meta's total yearly sales. The order can stay in place until the probe ends, or June 2029 at the latest.
That fine could be huge, since 10% of a firm this big runs to many billions. So the order has real bite.
WhatsApp is one of the world's biggest chat apps, so a spot on it is a huge prize for any AI bot. That is why the EU wants the doors kept open while it digs.
The clock is short on purpose, since the EU wants to act before rivals get pushed out for good. Meta can still fight the order in court, but it has to open up first and argue later.
Meta is not backing down. It called the move "regulatory overreach" and said "We will appeal." It is a spot the firm knows well, since it is already fighting a separate EU fine.
Meta has five working days to open the gates back up or start to risk that fine.
For now, the five-day clock is ticking.
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