On June 9, the European Commission ordered Meta to restore rival AI chatbots’ free access to WhatsApp in Europe, escalating a wider Meta ban wave and EU push to curb Big Tech power after fresh complaints over ignored account-ban appeals and weak content moderation decisions.
The move puts Meta under renewed pressure in Brussels, where regulators scrutinize its control over AI services and its treatment of users who claim they were wrongly faced with Instagram, Threads, and Facebook ban accounts.
Let’s not forget to mention Instagram ban wave. Together, the Instagram WhatsApp ban cases show European authorities pushing platforms to offer fairer treatment across digital markets.
EU Targets Meta’s WhatsApp AI Restrictions
The European Commission ordered Meta to allow third-party general-purpose AI assistants operated by rival companies to use WhatsApp for Business API for free, while antitrust and actions such as investigation and Instagram WhatsApp ban continue.
The inquiry began in December 2025, after Meta barred AI providers other than Meta AI from accessing the Instagram WhatsApp ban.
Brussels said the Instagram ban wave order was needed to prevent harm to competition in a fast-growing market.
Regulators believe Meta’s move may amount to an abuse of its dominant position in Europe, where WhatsApp is widely used by businesses and consumers, hence why a Meta ban wave should be applied.
Meta has been given five working days to reinstate access under the same terms and conditions that applied before the Meta ban wave. If it refuses, the company could face fines of up to 10% of turnover.
“In rapidly evolving markets, competition can be lost long before a final decision is adopted”, said the Commission’s executive vice-president for clean, just and competitive transition, Teresa Ribera.
She said the Facebook ban accounts measures would remain in place while the investigation continues, arguing Europeans should be able to choose which AI assistant they use on WhatsApp, rather than having Meta make that choice.
Meta rejected the Instagram ban decision along with other platforms and said it would appeal. The company argued that Brussels was forcing it to subsidize valuable AI firms by giving them free access to paid products.
“The European Commission has decided that OpenAI and some of the largest companies in the world can use the paid-for WhatsApp Business product for free”, it said in a statement.
The dispute adds strained relations between European regulators and US technology companies. Meta previously warned that EU rules could create a worse experience for European users, while the bloc says its actions protect consumers.
Add Pressure Over Platform Accountability
The WhatsApp intervention follows criticism of Meta’s cooperation with Appeals Centre Europe, an independent body that reviews disputes from social media users in the EU. Its transparency report showed that account bans were the largest category of complaints in the year leading up to March 2026.
The body reviewed 4,600 cases involving Facebook ban multiple accounts, Instagram and Threads users who said they had been wrongly banned. However, Meta provided evidence in fewer than 100 cases, making it difficult for the center to assess whether users were treated fairly.
Users say they are locked out of accounts without clear explanations or real access to appeal, will these users be able to get a Facebook ban account recovery compensation at least?
Last year, hundreds contacted the BBC from several countries, including the UK, saying their Facebook or Instagram accounts had been banned and had no practical way to recover them.
The Appeals Centre also found problems beyond account suspensions. It reviewed more than 1,400 cases involving content users who said should have been removed as hate speech and found that platforms often failed to enforce their own rules. Across nearly 3,000 decisions where it could review content, it disagreed with platforms 59% of the time.
Together, the WhatsApp AI case and older appeals findings raise the same question: whether Meta and other large platforms should decide access, visibility and enforcement themselves.
In Europe, regulators are increasingly answering with intervention regarding the Meta ban wave.
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