EU Commission Targets Meta's Charging Strategy to Prevent WhatsApp's Exclusive Control Over AI Assistants
The EU Commission informed Meta on Wednesday that the company's practice of charging competitors for access to WhatsApp for AI chatbots may violate EU antitrust rules, effectively constituting a disguised exclusion of third-party AI-assisted services. The EU stated that its preliminary conclusion suggests that Meta's pricing structure replicates the previously investigated "ban" effect, and therefore, it is prepared to require Meta to restore third-party AI assistants' access to WhatsApp Business under the original conditions before the investigation concludes.
Earlier, in response to the EU antitrust investigation, Meta proposed allowing third-party AI assistants access but required a fee per message in exchange for a "legitimate and compliant" stance. However, the EU believes that this "paid channel" does not change Meta's dominant position at the communication interface level and may instead shift costs to small and medium-sized enterprises, thereby undermining genuine competition. If ultimately found to have abused its market dominance, Meta could face fines of up to 10% of its global annual revenue and behavioral remedies.
Source: Public Information
ABAB AI Insight
欧盟此次对“收费接入”的否定，实质是把“平台接口”视为一种公共基础设施，而非纯粹的商业服务。当Meta在WhatsApp Business上几乎垄断了企业端消息触达，它便获得了“控制企业—客户—AI助手”三方链路的巨大杠杆。任何收费结构，无论是否面向“大公司”，都会在系统层面扭曲市场进入代价，从而抑制新AI助手的天然扩散。
从产业结构看，这轮摩擦反映了“AI助手—通讯平台—企业端”利益链的激烈重构。Meta希望在AI竞争中，既保持自身Meta AI的优先地位，又通过WhatsApp的商业API构建收费通道；而监管机构则试图确保，所有AI模型在消息平台上享有“规则平等”的基础设施级接入，以避免“赢家通吃”格局在AI层提前固化。
在更广泛的制度演进视角，这一案例标志着“数字平台监管”从“流量与广告”延展到“AI分发层”。欧盟的重点不再是单纯惩罚高集中度，而是通过对通讯接口的开放性干预，防止大平台将“AI助手的分发权”附加在自家生态中。这一思路若被后续案件确立，将对全球AI竞赛的规则边界产生深远影响：AI的质量固然是关键，但“是否被允许接入主流通讯网络”，同样决定其生存权。