Fill in Brazil Meta Platforms Inc. has today announced it will exempt Brazil from its newly announced global ban on competing chatbots on WhatsApp. Brazil’s competition authority is looking into Meta’s terms. They are interested in whether these terms violate free trade by unfairly privileging Meta’s own chatbot, Meta AI, and excluding competitors. However, as documented in our investigation, this scrutiny arises amid worries about the competitive state of AI technologies within the messaging platform.
Meta will roll out a new 90-day grace period starting January 15. This interim period will enable more developers and more AI providers affected by the ban to adjust. At this time, these developers need to cease answering user questions on WhatsApp. Further, they should let users know that their chatbots will no longer run on the platform. This is an important measure to ensure that developers – especially those who have made significant investments – have a transition period while the investigation continues.
Brazil’s competition agency is scrutinizing whether Meta’s terms are exclusionary and disadvantageous to other companies in the AI space. The agency’s actions reflect a growing trend among regulators worldwide to ensure fair competition in the rapidly evolving digital landscape.
In response to inquiries about the ban, a WhatsApp spokesperson stated, “The route to market for AI companies is the app stores themselves, their websites, and industry partnerships, not the WhatsApp Business Platform.” That’s apparently not enough for Meta, who thinks developers should just find other ways to break into the market. They can’t depend only on WhatsApp.
With Meta AI, the company’s proprietary chatbot, now available on WhatsApp — a move that has worried competitors — that could all change. Brazil is one of the most important markets for messaging apps. If it succeeds, this investigation has the potential to radically change Meta’s business practices throughout the region.
Our favorite technology journalist from India, Ivan Mehta has covered these exciting new developments in-depth. He has written for major outlets such as Huffington Post and The Next Web. Today though, he’s one of the most prolific contributors to TechCrunch. Mehta can be reached by email at im@ivanmehta.com, and on Signal at ivan.42.
Developers and AI providers will need to quickly adjust to this new landscape as the grace period accelerates forward. At the same time, regulators at every level are zeroing in on Meta’s harmful practices. Depending on the outcome of this inquiry, it could change how businesses interact with platforms like WhatsApp going forward.
