Meta Opens WhatsApp to Rival AI Chatbots in Brazil

[nihalsari]

Meta has confirmed that rival AI companies will now be able to offer their chatbots on WhatsApp for users in Brazil, following a decision by the country’s antitrust regulator. The move comes after Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE) rejected Meta’s appeal and ruled that banning third-party AI chatbots from the messaging platform could harm competition.

As part of the change, Meta will allow developers to deploy AI services through the WhatsApp Business API but will charge $0.0625 per non-template message starting March 11. The policy shift also follows a similar step in Europe, where regulatory pressure has pushed Meta to open its ecosystem to competitors despite previously prioritizing its own AI assistant, Meta AI.

[ed]

$0.0625 per message sounds small until you realize a chatbot can send like… thousands