EU Orders Meta to Open WhatsApp to Rival AI Assistants Amid Antitrust Probe
The European Commission imposed interim measures on Meta, requiring it to restore access for competing AI chatbots to WhatsApp, aiming to preserve competition in the AI assistant market.
The story
The European Commission on June 8 ordered Meta Platforms to restore free access to WhatsApp for rival general-purpose AI assistants, accusing the company of abusing its dominant position in consumer communication applications. The interim measures stem from Meta's policy, introduced in October 2025, which blocked third-party AI providers from using the WhatsApp for Business API, leaving only Meta AI accessible on the platform.
The Commission concluded that this conduct, at first glance, infringes EU competition rules and could cause serious and irreparable harm to competition in the rapidly growing market for AI assistants. EU antitrust chief Teresa Ribera stated on June 9 that Meta's proposals to resolve these issues were unconvincing, and the order could remain in effect until June 2029 if the investigation is not completed sooner. Meta has criticized the decision and announced plans to appeal, arguing that regulators are effectively forcing it to provide paid WhatsApp business services to rivals for free.
Who moved
Apple
What Changed: Unveiled "Siri AI" at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2026, a significantly revamped digital assistant powered by the new Apple Intelligence platform.
Why It Matters: The overhaul aims to address years of delays and increasing pressure for Apple to compete with rivals in the rapidly advancing artificial intelligence sector.
Nvidia
What Changed: Shares fell approximately 6% on June 7, following reports highlighting how major tech companies are accelerating their development of custom AI chips.
Why It Matters: This signals a growing effort by Nvidia's largest customers, including Amazon, Alphabet, and Microsoft, to reduce their reliance on third-party GPUs for their internal AI workloads.
Products & launches
Surface RTX Spark Dev Box
Company: Microsoft
What: Introduced as an Nvidia-powered PC designed for AI developers, capable of running large AI models locally with one petaflop of AI compute power and 128GB of unified memory.
MAI-Code-1-Flash
Company: Microsoft
What: Launched as a new small-tier coding model now available for GitHub Copilot, optimized for lightweight coding workflows and outperforming other small models in early testing.
Microsoft Discovery
Company: Microsoft
What: Achieved general availability, providing an enterprise platform for research and development organizations to build and govern agentic AI workflows across scientific and engineering disciplines.
Platforms & policy
EU General Court / Meta
Development: Ruled on June 4 that Facebook Marketplace should not be regulated under the Digital Markets Act, though it affirmed that Facebook Messenger remains subject to DMA rules.
Money & markets
Amazon. Reported its custom silicon business, which includes Graviton and Trainium chips, reached a $20 billion annual revenue run rate in Q1 2026, with CEO Andy Jassy indicating it could generate $50 billion as a standalone entity.
Big Tech (Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft). Are collectively projected to invest between $650 billion and $725 billion in capital expenditures for AI infrastructure in 2026, marking a substantial increase from previous years.
What we'll be watching
- US Congress to hold a hearing in mid-June where CEOs of major technology companies are expected to testify on antitrust enforcement, data privacy, and content moderation.
- Microsoft's Work IQ APIs are scheduled for general availability on June 16, 2026, enabling agents to interact with Microsoft 365 data and apps.
- The American Bar Association will host a 2026 Antitrust Consumer Protection/Data Privacy Roundtable on October 1 in Washington, DC.
Reporting + analyst voices: grounded via Google Search at publish time.