Italy’s competition watchdog has opened a formal inquiry into Meta Platforms over the embedding of its AI assistant into WhatsApp without securing prior user consent, Reuters is reporting.
The investigation raises concerns that Meta may be exploiting its dominant status in messaging to promote its own AI tools and sideline rival offerings.
Meta AI was added directly into WhatsApp’s search bar in March 2025. Regulators argue this design could channel users to Meta’s services by default rather than encouraging genuine competition. They worry the feature could “lock” users into Meta’s ecosystem, impairing the ability of alternative AI platforms to gain traction.
The Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato (AGCM) alleges that the integration may breach EU competition law, specifically Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. The watchdog emphasizes that Meta may have conflated two distinct services, WhatsApp and Meta AI, in a way that unfairly steers consumers.
The regulator has allied with the European Commission on the probe and deployed inspection teams to Meta’s Italian offices. They were accompanied by Italy’s special antitrust unit within the national tax police, underscoring the investigation’s importance and urgency.
Meta has issued a response through a spokesperson, asserting full cooperation with the regulator. Meta argues that offering zero‑cost access to AI within WhatsApp gives millions of users in Italy the convenience of experiencing artificial intelligence in a familiar environment.
Meta maintains that that users are not forced into using Meta AI, since the feature must be actively engaged with by the user. However, should AGCM find that Meta has violated competition rules, the company could face punitive fines of up to ten% of its global revenue.
Such a penalty could amount to billions, depending on Meta’s financial results in the relevant years.
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