**Brazil’s Competition Watchdog Cracks Down on WhatsApp’s Anti-Chatbot Policy**
In a major development that could shake up the world of messaging apps, Brazil’s antitrust authority, CADE (Conselho Administrativo de Defesa Econômica), has ordered WhatsApp to suspend its policy restricting third-party AI companies from using its business API to provide chatbots. This move is part of a broader investigation into Meta, WhatsApp’s parent company, to determine whether the policy is anti-competitive.
Here’s a quick rundown of what’s going on: in October, Meta modified its terms of use for WhatsApp, essentially banning third-party AI companies from creating chatbots on the platform. This change has got several major players, including OpenAI, Perplexity, and Microsoft, up in arms, as they’d be unable to offer their chatbots on WhatsApp after January 15.
The thing is, third-party companies aren’t completely shut out. They can still develop and use chatbots within WhatsApp to communicate with their own customers. It’s just that they can’t offer their chatbots as third-party services to other users on the platform.
What’s got CADE sniffing around, though, is whether this policy is anti-competitive. In other words, is Meta, by controlling the flow of third-party chatbots, unfairly favoring its own AI product, Meta AI? The agency is looking into this and could potentially impose some serious consequences if Meta is found to be in the wrong.
And it’s not just Brazil’s competition regulator that’s got its eyes on WhatsApp. The EU has launched its own antitrust investigation into the policy, which could result in some serious fines (up to 10% of Meta’s global revenue, if you’re curious) if WhatsApp is found to be in breach of EU antitrust rules.
Interestingly, in a move that suggests Meta might be trying to soften the blow, the company has told developers that they can still offer AI chatbots to customers in Italy after the new policy takes effect. But for now, it seems the WhatsApp chatbot party is still up in the air.
We’ll keep an eye on this one as it develops, but what do you think? Are you concerned about the impact of this policy change on WhatsApp’s third-party chatbots?
