Meta faces antitrust investigation in Italy for embedding AI in WhatsApp: Here’s what happened

Italy’s antitrust regulator has launched a formal investigation into Meta Platforms over claims that it misused its market dominance by integrating its artificial intelligence tool into WhatsApp without securing user consent.

The Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato (AGCM) announced on Wednesday that the probe focuses on potential breaches of European Union competition laws. It alleges that Meta’s integration of its AI assistant into WhatsApp, introduced in March 2025, may have disadvantaged rival services by directing users toward its own tools.

According to the regulator, the Meta AI assistant was embedded into WhatsApp’s search bar, effectively introducing a new service within an existing one. The AGCM raised concerns that this move may have compelled users to interact with Meta’s AI by default, undermining fair competition and limiting consumer choice.

“By linking Meta AI with WhatsApp, the company appears to be leading users into the new AI service not through competitive merit, but by combining two separate functions in a way that may harm rival providers,” the authority stated.

Meta, which owns WhatsApp, confirmed it was cooperating with the investigation. In a statement, a spokesperson said, “Offering free access to our AI features in WhatsApp gives millions of Italians the choice to use AI in a place they already know, trust and understand.”

The AGCM said it was acting in coordination with the European Commission’s relevant offices. As part of the investigation, officials from the authority, supported by Italy’s Guardia di Finanza special antitrust unit, conducted inspections at Meta’s Italian subsidiary.

Under EU regulations, companies found guilty of abusing a dominant position can face fines of up to 10 per cent of their global annual revenue.

This investigation adds to the growing scrutiny of large technology companies operating in Europe, particularly around the deployment of artificial intelligence tools and how these impact competition in digital markets.

(With inputs from Reuters)