Italy’s competition watchdog announced Wednesday that it has launched a formal investigation into Meta for potentially violating European Union competition regulations by integrating its artificial intelligence tool into WhatsApp.
Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, began displaying its AI assistant, Meta AI, within the WhatsApp platform earlier this year.
According to a statement by Italy’s antitrust authority, “In March 2025, Meta, which holds a dominant position in the consumer communication app market, pre-installed its AI service within WhatsApp.” The authority suggested this move could amount to “imposing” AI-based chatbot and assistant functionalities on users.
The agency expressed concern that by merging Meta AI with WhatsApp, Meta may be leveraging its extensive user base to gain an unfair advantage in the developing AI market. “This integration may not reflect merit-based competition,” the statement added, “but rather a forced bundling of two distinct services, potentially harming rivals.”
On Tuesday, Italian authorities conducted an on-site inspection of Meta’s Italian offices in collaboration with the Financial Police. The investigation is being carried out in coordination with relevant departments of the European Commission.
Officials also warned that users could become “locked in” or overly reliant on Meta AI, as the tool learns from past interactions to provide increasingly tailored and effective responses—raising further concerns about market dominance and consumer choice.
