Brazil Orders Meta to Suspend Policy Banning Third-Party AI Chatbots from WhatsApp
Brazil halts WhatsApp’s ban on third-party AI chatbots amid antitrust probe into Meta’s policies.
Matilda
Brazil Orders Meta to Suspend Policy Banning Third-Party AI Chatbots from WhatsApp
Brazil Orders WhatsApp to Pause AI Chatbot Restrictions In a major regulatory move, Brazil’s antitrust watchdog has ordered Meta to suspend its new policy banning third-party AI chatbots on WhatsApp—just days before it was set to take full effect. The decision, issued by the Conselho Administrativo de Defesa Econômica (CADE), responds to growing global concerns that Meta is leveraging its dominance to stifle competition and unfairly promote its own Meta AI assistant. If you’ve wondered whether WhatsApp would soon block AI tools like OpenAI or Perplexity, the answer—for now—is no, at least in Brazil. Credit: Meta Why Brazil Stepped In CADE didn’t act lightly. After reviewing complaints from tech firms and digital rights advocates, the agency concluded there’s “possible anti-competitive conduct of an exclusive nature” tied to Meta’s updated WhatsApp Business Solution Terms. Essentially, CADE suspects Meta rewrote the rules not to protect users—but to lock out rivals while giving its in-hous…