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Meta to Introduce Paid Third Party AI Chatbot Integrations on WhatsApp After EU Intervention

Meta to Introduce Paid Third-Party AI Chatbot Integrations on WhatsApp After EU Intervention

Meta is allowing third-party AI providers on WhatsApp in 30 countries, of which the majority are part of the European Union (EU).

Written by Akash Dutta, Edited by Rohan Pal | Updated: 6 March 2026 14:22 IST

Meta to Introduce Paid Third-Party AI Chatbot Integrations on WhatsApp After EU Intervention

Photo Credit: Reuters

In January, rival AI chatbots were allowed on WhatsApp in Italy following the regulator’s order

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Highlights

Meta blocked rival AI chatbots on WhatsApp on January 15
The company will charge AI providers for each non-template message
Meta will reportedly continue this support for the next 12 months

Meta, on Wednesday, changed its policy to allow third-party artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots on WhatsApp in select regions. The updated policy was specified following objections from the European Union (EU), which found the older policy in breach of its competition rules. However, while the social media giant has agreed to open WhatsApp to rival AI platforms, it plans to charge them a fee for each non-template message sent. Additionally, the company has currently only made this exemption for 30 countries.

Meta Opens WhatsApp to Rival AI Chatbots

In October 2025, Meta updated its business application programming interface (API) policy to restrict third-party AI chatbots from accessing WhatsApp Business, and the rules were brought into effect on January 15. After this, ChatGPT, Copilot, and other AI bots were deactivated. The company did not specify the reason behind the prohibition, although reports had claimed that it could be due to these chatbots directly competing with its Meta AI.

The company said, “AI Providers are only permitted to offer general-purpose AI assistants on the WhatsApp Business Platform where Meta is legally required to permit this use case.” Following the move, the EU called the move anti-competitive and warned of imposing interim measures to prevent potential harm to rival AI companies. The same concerns were raised by Italy's watchdog in December, which led to Meta allowing rival AI chatbots in the country for a fee.

WhatsApp Plus Could Soon Let You Pay to Access These Features

Now, in the updated document, the tech giant said that in countries where it is legally required to allow support of the WhatsApp Business platform to third-party AI providers, it will charge them for every non-template message the bot sends to a user. This provision is currently applicable in 30 countries, out of which 26 are EU members, three are members of the European Economic Area (EEA), and the remaining country is Brazil.

A TechCrunch report claims that Meta could charge AI providers a fee ranging between EUR 0.0490 (roughly Rs. 5) and EUR 0.1323 (roughly Rs. 14) for each non-template message, depending on the country. Since user conversations with AI bots can span dozens of messages, the service can be a costly affair for AI companies.

A Meta spokesperson told Reuters, “For the next 12 months, we'll support general-purpose AI chatbots using the WhatsApp Business API in Europe in response to the European Commission's regulatory process. We believe that this removes the need for any immediate intervention as it gives the European Commission the time it needs to conclude its investigation."

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Further reading: Meta, WhatsApp, AI chatbots, chatbots, AI, Artificial Intelligence, App

Akash Dutta Email Akash Dutta

Akash Dutta is a Chief Sub Editor at Gadgets 360. He is particularly interested in the social impact of technological developments and loves reading about emerging fields such as AI, metaverse, and fediverse. In his free time, he can be seen supporting his favourite football club - Chelsea, watching movies and anime, and sharing passionate opinions on food. More