After January’s blanket ban and March’s $0.0625-per-message fee, Meta has filed a fresh European Commission proposal: free WhatsApp access for OpenAI, Perplexity, and others, up to a usage cap, then a fee.
Meta has filed a fresh European Commission proposal that would give rival AI chatbots, including OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Perplexity, Anthropic’s Claude and others, free access to WhatsApp in Europe up to a usage threshold, then start charging beyond it, Reuters reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter.
The proposal was submitted last week after the European Commission signalled it was considering a formal order forcing Meta to open WhatsApp to third-party AI services under the Digital Markets Act.
Meta blocked all third-party AI assistants on WhatsApp on 15 January, an action that affected ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, Perplexity, and several smaller third-party assistants that had built distribution inside the messaging app.
The blanket ban triggered antitrust attention in both Brussels and Brazil. Meta partially relented in March, agreeing to open WhatsApp to rival chatbots but at a $0.0625-per-message fee, a structure both regulators and the affected AI companies treated as commercially prohibitive.
