The European Commission has begun investigating a new Meta policy that would give its own AI exclusive access to WhatsApp users.

The policy would block other AI providers from integrating AI services into WhatsApp, which would give Meta’s AI service a commercial advantage.

The EC has launched these kinds of investigations for decades.  One recent case involved Microsoft, which the EC accused of tying Microsoft Teams to the company’s productivity applications Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, included in its Office 365 and Microsoft 365 suites. Microsoft eventually agreed to an undertaking and repackaged the selling of its products.

This new case is significant as it will decide whether the AI developed by one company will be free to work across applications, or whether AI use will be strictly tied to the environment that a singular company operates.

The investigation feeds into another issue: the United States’ campaign to get the EC to wind back its strict digital laws which have been the bane of the US tech giants for decades.

So much so, that 10 days ago, according to reports, a US trade officials visiting Brussels warned that it would retain punishing tariffs on European Union steel and aluminium if the application of digital rules to big tech was not watered down.

EU competition commissioner Teresa Ribera says that AI markets are booming in Europe and beyond. “We must ensure European citizens and businesses can benefit fully of this technological revolution and act to prevent dominant digital incumbents from abusing their power to crowd out innovative competitors,” she said.

The antitrust probe follows Meta’s action to integrate its AI system into WhatsApp including into chat groups for business. Othe AI providers will no longer be allowed to integrate their own AI bots in those groups to handle client issues or provide support services.