Antitrust: precautionary proceedings on Meta for abuse of dominant position. The company rejects the allegations

The measure recalls significant numbers: the Agcm describes WhatsApp as an infrastructure with over 37 million users in Italy and more than 2 billion worldwide with the EU generative AI market estimated at 4.4 billion in 2024 and expected to grow to 7.3 billion in 2025 and 11.7 billion in 2026.

In this context, Meta's decision, according to the contested findings, would have an impact not only on competing big tech companies - OpenAI, Microsoft, Perplexity - but also on start-ups that build their positioning on WhatsApp. The Authority cites the example of Luzia, the Spanish assistant that has carved out its own space thanks to the spread of the app.

The point is commercial and strategic: Meta AI, remaining the only chatbot operating within WhatsApp, would be the only one able to train itself on users' conversations and shape increasingly personalised services. This would create - warns the Agcm measure - a 'significant competitive advantage' that would be 'difficult for other players to overcome'. Added to this is the risk of lock-in, the functional dependence of users: if WhatsApp offers only one integrated chatbot, using it becomes easier and changing service in the future becomes increasingly unlikely.

This is why the Antitrust Authority speaks openly of 'the risk of serious and irreparable damage to competition'. A concept that recurs several times, underlining the fact that we are in a crucial phase for the generative AI market: a young sector, in fact, where those who take the plunge now may no longer be reachable in a few months' time. And where the effects of a temporary closure could become permanent.

Hence the initiation by Agcm of precautionary proceedings that could lead to the suspension of the new contractual conditions and the blocking of further Meta AI additions to WhatsApp until the end of the investigation.

Meta, who had asserted the lawfulness of his choices at the 22 October hearing, will now have time (sixty days) to submit pleadings and defend himself. As for precautionary measures, the deadline for submitting written pleadings or requests for hearings is seven days.

"We strongly reject these unfounded accusations. WhatsApp's Api is not designed to be used with AI chatbots and doing so would severely overload our systems. The recent update has no impact on the tens of thousands of businesses that provide customer support and send relevant communications, nor on businesses that use their preferred AI assistant to converse with their customers." Thus a WhatsApp spokesperson on the extension of the antitrust proceedings against Meta Platforms.