Brazil Orders Meta to Suspend WhatsApp Policy Banning Third-Party AI Chatbots

Brazil's competition watchdog has ordered Meta to suspend a policy that prevents third-party artificial intelligence companies from offering chatbots on WhatsApp through its business API. The regulator has also opened an investigation to determine whether the policy violates competition rules.

Brazil's antitrust authority, the Conselho Administrativo de Defesa Econômica (CADE), said there are indications of potentially anti-competitive conduct arising from Meta's new WhatsApp Business Solution Terms.

"According to the investigations, there is possible anti-competitive conduct of an exclusive nature that arises from the application of the new WhatsApp Terms imposed by Meta to regulate the access and offer, by providers of artificial intelligence tools, of its technologies to WhatsApp users," CADE said in a statement.

The regulator said it will examine whether Meta's policy unfairly excludes competitors while favouring Meta AI, the company's own chatbot available on WhatsApp.

Meta updated the terms governing the WhatsApp Business API in October, barring third-party AI companies from offering chatbots on the platform. Following the announcement, companies including OpenAI, Perplexity, and Microsoft said their chatbots would no longer be available on WhatsApp once the policy takes effect on January 15. Meta's rules do not prevent businesses from deploying their own chatbots — whether AI-powered or not — to interact with customers on WhatsApp.

CADE's move follows similar scrutiny in other regions. The European Union has launched its own antitrust investigation into the policy, as has Italy. If EU regulators determine that Meta breached competition laws, the company could face fines of up to 10% of its global revenue.

Meta has reportedly told AI providers that they may continue offering their chatbots to users in Italy even after the new rules take effect on January 15. The company could adopt a similar approach in Brazil following CADE's order.

Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside regular business hours.

The company has previously argued that third-party AI chatbots strain systems not designed for such use cases under the WhatsApp Business API. Meta has also said that users who wish to access multiple chatbots can do so outside WhatsApp.

"The purpose of the WhatsApp Business API is to help businesses provide customer support and send relevant updates. Our focus is on supporting the tens of thousands of businesses who are building these experiences on WhatsApp," a Meta spokesperson said when the company revised the terms in October.