The Turkish Competition Board has launched a formal investigation into Meta Platforms, Inc. and its related corporate entities to determine whether the tech giant has abused its dominant market position. The decision focuses on potential violations of competition laws regarding how Meta deploys its proprietary artificial intelligence services within its popular messaging platform.
The core of the investigation centers on the integration of Meta AI into WhatsApp. Regulators are examining whether Meta has systematically blocked third-party artificial intelligence providers from offering competitive services through the messaging app. Preliminary inquiries revealed serious indicators of anti-competitive behavior, specifically noting that Meta has actively prevented third-party, general-purpose generative AI chatbots and assistants from operating as primary services on WhatsApp.
Because these actions pose an immediate threat to market fairness, the Board has bypassed waiting for a final ruling to take action. To prevent irreversible damage to the generative AI ecosystem and maintain a level playing field, an immediate interim measure has been imposed.
Under this mandate, Meta is legally required to establish the necessary technical and economic conditions to allow third-party AI assistants to operate seamlessly within WhatsApp. The regulatory body explicitly stated that Meta cannot introduce de facto technical hurdles or economic complications to disadvantage these outside developers. Meta has been given a strict deadline of one month from the official notification of the reasoned decision to comply with these terms. Failure to open up the platform to external AI providers within this timeframe will result in significant administrative fines.
