Meta's recent ban on third-party large language models (LLMs) using WhatsApp’s Business API will not apply to users in Italy and Brazil, as confirmed in a statement coinciding with the ban's implementation. The ban, which affects companies like OpenAI and Perplexity, was introduced last October and aims to restrict the use of WhatsApp as a substitute for proprietary chatbot services.
Italy's competition authority, AGCM, has deemed the ban potentially anticompetitive, prompting an investigation that concluded in December. AGCM ordered Meta to reverse the ban, asserting that it could hinder market access and innovation in the AI chatbot sector. This determination has led to urgent measures to preserve competitive conditions for AI providers.
On the same day the ban commenced, Brazil's CADE initiated an inquiry regarding WhatsApp's revised terms, which may extend the exemption further, depending on the European Commission's findings in an ongoing EU investigation. The implications of these developments suggest significant shifts in how AI services can interact with WhatsApp moving forward.