The COMESA Competition and Consumer Commission launched a high-stakes investigation into Meta Platforms Ireland Limited. This probe, which spans 21 member states, centers on whether Meta is illegally leveraging its dominance in the messaging market to seize control of the continent’s emerging artificial intelligence sector.
The Core Allegation: A Walled Garden Strategy
The investigation was triggered by a controversial update to the WhatsApp Business Solution Terms introduced in October 2025. According to the Commission, these unilateral changes effectively ban third-party general-purpose AI providers from accessing the WhatsApp Business API. At the heart of the regulatory concern is the fact that while rivals are locked out, Meta has allegedly preserved and preferentially integrated its own “Meta AI” service.
This “walled garden” approach is particularly sensitive in Africa, where WhatsApp serves as a primary gateway for digital commerce and communication. For many businesses and developers in nations like Kenya, Egypt, and Ethiopia, WhatsApp is the most viable infrastructure for reaching customers. By closing this gateway, Meta is suspected of violating Regulation 36 of the COMESA Competition and Consumer Protection Regulations, which prohibits the abuse of a dominant position to prevent, restrict, or distort competition.
Growing Resistance from the Local Ecosystem
The probe follows a formal complaint lodged by AdLegal, a competition law practice group, which argues that Meta’s conduct irreparably harms the competitive dynamics of the AI market. Local startups, such as Luzia and Zapia, have expressed that being cut off from the WhatsApp API is an existential threat to their business models. Many African AI innovators built their services around a “WhatsApp-first” strategy to avoid the high user acquisition costs of standalone apps, and they now face a sudden loss of their primary distribution channel.
The COMESA watchdog has emphasized that this move marks the start of a fact-finding mission and does not presuppose a finding of wrongdoing. The Commission will assess whether the revised terms create an unfair barrier to entry for local AI startups, effectively picking winners and losers in the digital economy.
A Coordinated Global Regulatory Wave
African regulators are not acting in isolation; the COMESA probe mirrors a wave of international interventions. On February 9, 2026, the European Commission issued a Statement of Objections against Meta for similar conduct, citing an urgent need for interim measures to prevent “serious and irreparable harm” to the AI assistant market. Similar actions have been seen in Brazil and Italy, where authorities have already moved to protect third-party chatbots from exclusion.
The Commission has invited all interested stakeholders—from independent developers to tech associations—to submit their written representations by March 16, 2026. This period will be crucial for determining whether African regulators will follow the European lead in imposing interim measures to force Meta to reopen its API while the full investigation proceeds.