Italy’s competition watchdog, the Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato (AGCM), has officially halted its domestic antitrust investigation into Meta Platforms. The probe, which focused on allegations that Meta abused its market dominance by integrating its proprietary artificial intelligence tool into WhatsApp, was closed after the European Commission expanded its own sweeping investigation to cover Italian territory.(globalbankingandfinance)
The AGCM initially launched its investigation in July 2025 amid growing concerns over how Meta was rolling out its AI features. However, EU competition rules dictate that national regulators step aside when the European Commission takes over a case at the bloc-wide level to ensure a unified regulatory approach and avoid overlapping penalties.
The core of the antitrust dispute centers on WhatsApp’s policy updates concerning third-party AI developers. When Meta introduced its AI chatbot features to European Union users, it implemented strict new terms and conditions, particularly for business accounts that use AI assistants to manage customer communications.
European regulators quickly sounded the alarm, alleging that these new policies deliberately box out innovative rivals. The European Commission opened its formal investigation into the matter after finding evidence that Meta’s updated terms effectively block competing AI companies from offering their assistants on WhatsApp, while ensuring Meta’s own chatbot enjoys unfettered, exclusive access to the platform’s massive user base.
The European Commission’s intervention underscores a broader, highly aggressive push by EU officials to prevent Big Tech monopolies from stifling the rapidly evolving AI landscape. Teresa Ribera, the Commission’s Vice President overseeing competition affairs, emphasized the urgency of the situation, noting that the bloc is moving swiftly to determine if Meta’s policies violate EU competition rules and to prevent “irreparable harm” to competition in the digital ecosystem. By absorbing the Italian probe into its centralized investigation, Brussels is signaling a consolidated European front against Meta’s AI expansion tactics.
