The European Commission is proposing to impose interim measures on Meta in relation to the change to its WhatsApp Business Solution Terms, which was announced in October 2025 and came into force on 15 January 2026.

A statement of objections has been sent to Meta which sets out the Commission’s preliminary view that this policy change is in breach of EU competition rules and risks blocking competitors from entering or expanding in a rapidly growing market.

The statement of objections covers the EEA except for Italy, where the Italian competition authority imposed interim measures on Meta in December 2025.

Meta now has the opportunity to reply to the Commission, after which a decision imposing interim measures can be adopted.

Teresa Ribera, the Commission’s executive vice-president for clean, just and competitive transition, said: “Artificial intelligence is bringing incredible innovations to consumers, and one of these is the emerging market of AI assistants.

“We must protect effective competition in this vibrant field, which means we cannot allow dominant tech companies to illegally leverage their dominance to give themselves an unfair advantage.

“AI markets are developing at rapid pace, so we also need to be swift in our action.

“That is why we are considering quickly imposing interim measures on Meta, to preserve access for competitors to WhatsApp while the investigation is ongoing, and avoid Meta’s new policy irreparably harming competition in Europe.”