{"id":200973,"date":"2025-11-26T10:00:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-26T10:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/200973\/"},"modified":"2025-11-26T10:00:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T10:00:09","slug":"italy-broadens-antitrust-probe-into-meta-over-ai-tools-in-whatsapp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/200973\/","title":{"rendered":"Italy broadens antitrust probe into Meta over AI tools in WhatsApp"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>MILAN, Nov 25 (Reuters) &#8211; Italy&#8217;s antitrust authority said on Wednesday it had broadened the scope of its investigation into Meta Platforms <a data-testid=\"Link\" target=\"_blank\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/markets\/companies\/META.O\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" class=\"text-module__text__0GDob text-module__inherit-color__PhuPF text-module__inherit-font__1P1hv text-module__inherit-size__EyiQW link-module__link__INqxZ link-module__underline_default__-okuC link-module__with-icon__qlg76\">(META.O), opens new tab<\/a> over allegations the company abused its dominant position through the use of its artificial intelligence tools on messaging service WhatsApp.<\/p>\n<p>The authority said the new WhatsApp Business Solution terms, introduced on October 15, and the integration of new Meta AI interaction tools or features in WhatsApp could restrict output, market access or technical development in the AI chatbot services market.<\/p>\n<p data-testid=\"promo-box\" class=\"text-module__text__0GDob text-module__dark-grey__UFC18 text-module__regular__qJJtA text-module__small__sph8i body-module__base__o--Cl body-module__small_body__gOmDf article-body-module__promo-box__hVl8h\"> Sign up  <a data-testid=\"Link\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/sustainability\/boards-policy-regulation\/italy-competition-watchdog-broadens-probe-into-meta-over-ai-tools-whatsapp-2025-11-26\/undefined?location=article-paragraph&amp;redirectUrl=%2Fsustainability%2Fboards-policy-regulation%2Fitaly-competition-watchdog-broadens-probe-into-meta-over-ai-tools-whatsapp-2025-11-26%2F\" class=\"text-module__text__0GDob text-module__inherit-color__PhuPF text-module__inherit-font__1P1hv text-module__inherit-size__EyiQW link-module__link__INqxZ link-module__underline_default__-okuC\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">here.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Meta was not immediately available to comment.<\/p>\n<p>The regulator, known as AGCM, said it could also adopt interim measures over the terms of WhatsApp business solutions and the inclusion of new Meta AI interaction tools or features into WhatsApp.<\/p>\n<p>The Italian regulator <a data-testid=\"Link\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/business\/meta-faces-italian-competition-investigation-over-whatsapp-ai-chatbot-2025-07-30\/\" class=\"text-module__text__0GDob text-module__inherit-color__PhuPF text-module__inherit-font__1P1hv text-module__inherit-size__EyiQW link-module__link__INqxZ link-module__underline_default__-okuC\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">started the investigation<\/a> in July.<\/p>\n<p>The watchdog said at the time Meta may have violated European Union competition rules by integrating its Meta AI assistant into WhatsApp without user consent.<\/p>\n<p data-testid=\"SignOff\" class=\"text-module__text__0GDob text-module__dark-grey__UFC18 text-module__regular__qJJtA text-module__extra_small__8Buss body-module__full_width__kCIGb body-module__extra_small_body__Bfz20 sign-off-module__text__LQAMP\">Reporting by Elvira Pollina, editing by Gianluca Semeraro and Tomasz Janowski<\/p>\n<p data-testid=\"Body\" dir=\"ltr\" class=\"text-module__text__0GDob text-module__dark-grey__UFC18 text-module__regular__qJJtA text-module__small__sph8i body-module__base__o--Cl body-module__small_body__gOmDf article-body-module__element__5eCce article-body-module__trust-badge__5mS3f\">Our Standards: <a data-testid=\"Link\" target=\"_blank\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thomsonreuters.com\/en\/about-us\/trust-principles.html\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" class=\"text-module__text__0GDob text-module__dark-grey__UFC18 text-module__medium__2Rl30 text-module__small__sph8i link-module__link__INqxZ link-module__underline_default__-okuC link-module__with-icon__qlg76\">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.reutersagency.com\/en\/licensereuterscontent\/?utm_medium=rcom-article-media&amp;utm_campaign=rcom-rcp-lead\" target=\"_blank\" dir=\"ltr\" class=\"button-module__link__A3sD0 button-module__secondary__70gBu button-module__round__QDFgq button-module__w_auto__Sem-F\" data-testid=\"LicenceContentButton\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Purchase Licensing Rights<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MILAN, Nov 25 (Reuters) &#8211; Italy&#8217;s antitrust authority said on Wednesday it had broadened the scope of its&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":200974,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[261],"tags":[86742,291,82519,82793,289,290,82794,82500,85474,82530,82528,82531,82711,82529,18,55396,82520,82522,32356,86743,45748,19,17,1355,98584,86744,82524,82799,82507,82510,82964,83363,82791,111007,82512,87107,15170,82801,753,82,30150,107,82518],"class_list":{"0":"post-200973","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-artificial-intelligence","8":"tag-acb","9":"tag-ai","10":"tag-amers","11":"tag-arti","12":"tag-artificial-intelligence","13":"tag-artificialintelligence","14":"tag-clj","15":"tag-cmpny","16":"tag-crim","17":"tag-destocabsm","18":"tag-destoukbsm","19":"tag-destousbsm","20":"tag-destousesg","21":"tag-destoustcm","22":"tag-eire","23":"tag-emea","24":"tag-europ","25":"tag-ezc","26":"tag-fin","27":"tag-fraud1","28":"tag-gen","29":"tag-ie","30":"tag-ireland","31":"tag-it","32":"tag-itse08","33":"tag-monop","34":"tag-namer","35":"tag-netsv","36":"tag-news1","37":"tag-publ","38":"tag-regs","39":"tag-rsbiregulatory-oversight","40":"tag-rulesmagnificent-seven","41":"tag-rulesmarkets-facebook","42":"tag-sci","43":"tag-socmed","44":"tag-sustainable-business","45":"tag-swit","46":"tag-tech","47":"tag-technology","48":"tag-tmt","49":"tag-us","50":"tag-weu"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115615421383489603","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200973","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=200973"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200973\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/200974"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=200973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=200973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=200973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}