EU Forces Meta to Open WhatsApp to Rival AI Assistants in Five-Month Regulatory Sprint

The European Commission ordered Meta to grant competing AI assistants free access to WhatsApp on 14 April 2026, less than five months after opening its antitrust investigation in December 2025. The interim measures target Meta's alleged exclusion of third-party AI competitors from the platform. OpenAI and other providers now have binding access rights. The speed of this enforcement—interim relief typically takes years—signals the Commission's determination to shape AI market structure before WhatsApp's integration layer consolidates around a single provider.