Facebook’s parent company Meta said it would exempt Italy from its decision to ban third-party artificial intelligence chatbots on WhatsApp.
According to Reuters, citing a notice sent to developers last week, the move follows a temporary order from Italy’s competition authority (AGCM) requiring Meta to suspend the ban in the country while it investigates a possible abuse of market dominance.
Under the new WhatsApp Terms of Service, effective from January 15, AI companies whose core business is artificial intelligence are prohibited from using WhatsApp Business solutions. However, phone numbers with the Italy country code (+39) will be excluded from these restrictions.
The exemption comes after the Italian regulator ordered Meta last month to temporarily halt implementation of the ban pending the outcome of a full investigation. Meanwhile, the European Commission has opened a formal antitrust investigation over the same policy, although it has not issued any similar interim order.
Marvin von Hagen, co-founder and chief executive of The Interaction Company, criticized the decision, saying that Meta’s continuation of the policy – ​​limiting the discount to Italian phone numbers – was “extremely disappointing”, Reuters reported.
