After Italy, WhatsApp excludes Brazil from rival chatbot ban – TechCrunch

WhatsApp is allowing AI providers to continue offering their chatbots to users with Brazilian phone numbers, days after the country’s competition regulator ordered the company to suspend its new policy that bars third-party, general-purpose chatbots from being offered on the app via its business API. Under the new policy, the company is providing a 90-day grace period starting January 15 to developers and AI providers, mandating them to cease responding to user queries on the chat app, and notify users that their chatbots won’t work on WhatsApp. Now, Meta told developers that they don’t have to notify users with Brazilian phone numbers (with code +55) of any changes or cease offering their services, per a notice to AI providers seen by TechCrunch. “The requirement to cease responding to user queries and implement pre-approved auto-reply language (mentioned below) before January 15, 2026, no longer applies when messaging people with a Brazil country code (+55),” the notice reads. WhatsApp did not immediately respond to a query seeking to confirm the decision. The policy, which goes into effect from today, impacts general-purpose chatbots like ChatGPT and Grok on the platform. Notably, the policy does not stop businesses from providing customer service via bots
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