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Meta has integrated Meta AI across the company's platforms, which include Facebook and Instagram, that serve billions of users globally. _________________ ROME — Italian regulators ordered Meta on Wednesday to open its WhatsApp chat platform to rival AI chatbots as it and EU authorities pursue a probe that the US tech giant is abusing its dominant market position. Meta has integrated Meta AI across the company's platforms, which include Facebook and Instagram, that serve billions of users globally. In October, Meta introduced new contractual conditions that will apply from January 15, which Italy's competition regulator said "completely exclude Meta AI's competitors from the WhatsApp platform in the AI Chatbot services market." Earlier this month, the European Commission opened an antitrust probe to determine if the way Meta is rolling out AI features in WhatsApp breaches the bloc's competition rules. Meta AI is a generative AI chatbot that can interact with users. Such AI chatbots provide a new way for users to search for and obtain information and services, and thus can supplant browsers. Locking WhatsApp's more than three billion users into Meta AI could potentially give the company a commercial advantage over rival AI chatbots. Italy's competition regulator, which opened its

Italy has formally ordered Meta to suspend a new WhatsApp policy that restricts rival AI chatbots.  The decision comes as regulators intensify scrutiny of how large technology companies deploy AI on dominant platforms. The order was issued by Italy’s Competition Authority, known as AGCM, as part of an ongoing antitrust investigation into Meta’s conduct. Market Fairness AGCM said it found sufficient grounds to act while the investigation continues.  The authority is examining whether Meta abused its dominant position by favoring its own Meta AI chatbot within WhatsApp. According to the agency, the policy could limit production and market access in the AI chatbot sector.  It could also slow technical development. As a result, consumers may face fewer options and less innovation. The authority added that allowing the policy to stand could cause serious and lasting harm to competition.  It warned that this harm could undermine the ability of new or smaller firms to compete fairly. Policy Change Image Credits: Aytac Unal/Anadolu Agency The investigation followed a change Meta made to its WhatsApp Business API policy in October. Under the updated policy, companies may no longer use WhatsApp’s business tools to distribute general-purpose AI chatbots.  The ban applies to tools similar

Italian regulators ordered Meta on Wednesday to open its WhatsApp chat platform to rival AI chatbots as it and EU authorities pursue a probe that the US tech giant is abusing its dominant market position. Meta has integrated Meta AI across the company’s platforms, which include Facebook and Instagram, that serve billions of users globally. In October, Meta introduced new contractual conditions that will apply from January 15 that Italy’s competition regulator said “completely exclude Meta AI’s competitors from the WhatsApp platform in the AI Chatbot services market.” Earlier this month the European Commission opened an antitrust probe to determine if the way Meta is rolling out AI features in WhatsApp breaches the bloc’s competition rules. Meta AI is a generative AI chatbot that can interact with users. Such AI chatbots provide a new way for users to search for and obtain information and services, and thus can supplant browsers. Locking WhatsApp’s more than three billion users into Meta AI could potentially give the company a commercial advantage over rival AI chatbots. Italy’s competition regulator, which opened its probe in July, said that following a review of briefs submitted as part of the investigation that “Meta’s conduct appears to constitute an abuse

By Anna Ferrari, Nicholas Hirst and Lewis Crofts ( December 24, 2025, 07:21 GMT | Insight) -- Meta Platforms' move to exclude AI chatbots from WhatsApp has been suspended by the Italian competition authority pending a full antitrust probe. The enforcer warned of “irreversible” and “disastrous” damage and said AI chatbot messages represented less than 1 percent of traffic. It revealed OpenAI had offered to contribute to Meta’s costs but got no answer. Meta said the decision was "flawed" and that it would appeal.Meta Platforms must freeze its October move to ban rival generative AI chatbots like those of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Microsoft’s Copilot, Perplexity or Luzia from WhatsApp in Italy pending an antitrust probe, the Italian Competition Authority said on Wednesday.... Prepare for tomorrow’s regulatory change, today MLex identifies risk to business wherever it emerges, with specialist reporters across the globe providing exclusive news and deep-dive analysis on the proposals, probes, enforcement actions and rulings that matter to your organization and clients, now and in the longer term. Know what others in the room don’t, with features including: Daily newsletters for Antitrust, M&A, Trade, Data Privacy & Security, Technology, AI and more Custom alerts on specific filters including geographies, industries

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It confirmed it ​was ‌taking measures to gradually restrict ‍WhatsApp as ⁠a result. Thousands of Russians complained about outages and slowdowns on ...

Hong Kong recorded a 20 per cent increase in online investment scams in the first 10 months of the year, with victims losing HK$3.08 billion (US$395.9 million), according to police. Superintendent Theodora Lee Wai-see of the force’s Anti-Deception Coordination Centre also revealed on Monday that 83 per cent of all fraudulent messages were disseminated through Meta-owned platforms including Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram. Overall, Hong Kong residents lost HK$6.43 billion to various scams over the first 10 months of 2025, an 8 per cent decrease over the same period last year. Of the 35,831 scam cases reported, 4,515 involved online investment fraud, with these losses rising 30 per cent year on year to HK$3.08 billion. About 2,000 cases were reportedly related to WhatsApp, another 800 to Facebook and 400 to Instagram, according to Lee. Lee said common investment scams involved messages purportedly sent by financial experts offering tips or courses. The scammers would then lure victims to invest through fraudulent apps or websites.

Leona Health, an AI healthcare communications startup founded by former Uber Eats Latin America GM and ex-Rappi COO Caroline Merin, has raised $14 million in seed funding to modernize doctor–patient messaging across Latin America. The round was led by Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from General Catalyst, Accel, Kate Ryder, David Vélez, and Simón Borrero. Leona delivers an AI copilot integrated with doctors’ existing WhatsApp workflows, allowing physicians to triage, prioritize, and respond to patient messages through a dedicated mobile app rather than unmanaged chat threads. The platform uses AI to surface urgent cases, suggest responses, and delegate routine requests to care teams. Now live across 14 countries and 22 medical specialties, Leona is expanding toward autonomous scheduling and intake, addressing a critical productivity and burnout challenge for physicians in WhatsApp-first healthcare markets. Featured image: Credit: Leona Health

The GhostPairing scam is emerging as one of the most insidious threats facing WhatsApp users in India, quietly taking over chats without breaching any official security systems. ​ GhostPairing scam: how the trap is set The GhostPairing scam relies on social engineering, not advanced malware, to infiltrate a victim’s WhatsApp account. Attackers first pose as friends or known contacts and send messages such as “Hey, I just found a photo of yours,” followed by a malicious link that appears to host the image. ​ These links often use domains like photoboxlife, postsphotolife, yourphotolife, photopostlive, yourphotoworld, top-fotolife and fotofacetop, luring users into a fake photo-viewing page. On this site, victims are asked to enter their phone number and a WhatsApp pairing or verification code, supposedly to “verify” their identity. ​ GhostPairing scam: what really happens to WhatsApp Once the user enters the verification code, the GhostPairing scam silently links the attacker’s device to the victim’s WhatsApp account via the Linked Devices feature. From this point, scammers gain full, persistent access similar to WhatsApp Web, yet everything appears normal to the victim. ​ Crucially, this method does not crack WhatsApp

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