The European Commission forces Meta to open its WhatsApp messaging service to competing artificial intelligence (AI) assistants. , for which Brussels accuses the technology giant of abuse of a dominant position, is still ongoing. This measure has come in just six months with the aim of “preventing serious and irreparable damage to competition in a growing market due to Meta’s attitude, which at first glance is breaking the rules of the EU market,” the European Executive points out in the statement in which it announced its decision.
. At the beginning of December, an investigation was opened into the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp for its change in the conditions it imposed on the competition for the instant messaging application: it banned their access to third-party artificial intelligence assistants. Just two months later, in February, Brussels concluded that there was sufficient evidence to accuse Meta of “probably abusing its dominant position in the market.” And now it has already adopted a first measure.
The artificial intelligence assistant is a tool that appears in the lower right corner of the mobile phone screen as soon as the user enters the application. It is a circle with a blue circle or fuchsia dots that, when touched, gives access to a digital chat room in which the consumer can ask questions to the AI assistant. This tool, by default, is the one provided by Meta, which, in addition, does not allow its competition to offer this service to users on WhatsApp.
To take this step, the Commission relies on the digital markets regulation (DMA), which allows it to act quickly once there is sufficient evidence that one of the large companies with electronic activity, the so-called guardians or gatekeeper In slang, it violates European regulatory law. This way of working It seeks to avoid what happened with the general EU Competition regulations, whose deadlines are very long. This meant that on many occasions when the decision was made to remedy the damage, it was impossible because the competition had already disappeared because it was unviable under those conditions or because the market was already different.
“In rapidly evolving markets, competition can disappear long before a final decision is made. Therefore, these provisional measures will remain in force for the duration of the investigation, in order to avoid damage that would be almost impossible to repair,” Ribera justifies.
Now the DMA establishes that the so-called guardians have additional obligations to prevent their large presence in the market from easily ending in abuse. The rule establishes that they will be designated gatekeeper companies that have at least 45 million users and a minimum turnover during the last three years in the European economic area (the EU plus Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein) of 7.5 billion euros in each of the last three years or a stock market value of more than 75 billion. These companies must also operate in the EU, which happens when they are present in a minimum of three Member States.
“These interim measures will safeguard competition in the growing market for AI assistants, by preserving a key access point to reach consumers in Europe – WhatsApp – and allowing AI companies to innovate, grow and reach their full potential. With today’s decision, we also preserve the freedom of choice of citizens across Europe regarding the AI assistants they want to use with WhatsApp, without that decision being made for them,” Ribera elaborates.
