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Comesa probes Meta for locking rival chatbots out of WhatsApp
Meta has pushed back against the flurry of probes into its decision to lock out third party AI platforms from WhatsApp, saying it was necessary to protect the integrity of the platform.
The Comesa Competition and Consumer Commission (CCCC) has launched a probe into suspected anti-competitive practices by Facebook's parent firm Meta in the region, joining a long list of regulators around the globe already looking into the American company’s conduct in different markets.
It joins regulators in the European Union, Italy, Brazil, and South Africa, which have recently looked into Meta’s conduct, specifically regarding the blocking of third-parties’ services from integrating with WhatsApp.
The competition watchdog of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) is acting on a recent complaint by a Ugandan organisation AdLegal International, accusing the firm of violating competition regulations.
Meta is accused of denying third-party artificial intelligence companies access to an application that allows them to integrate their chat bots with WhatsApp, while allowing its own Meta AI access to the platform, amounting to abuse of dominant position and an anti-competitive practice.
AdLegal, a Kampala-based law non-profit, alleged that Meta unilaterally amended the WhatsApp Business Solution Terms in October 2025 to lock out third parties from accessing the platform.
According to the petition, the amendment of the terms effectively denied access to the WhatsApp business application programming interface (API) to general purpose AI chatbot services like Google Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, Perplexity, ChatGPT, and even locally made solutions that allow companies to develop an automated chatting service on the platform.
With the change, Meta effectively denied the chatbots the ability to integrate with WhatsApp and allow users to ask questions or chat with it directly through the platform, but retained access for its own Meta AI.
“The Commission has reasonable cause to suspect, and does suspect, that the unilateral amendments to the WhatsApp Business Solution Terms is likely to substantially lessen competition in the Common Market by excluding artificial intelligence services providers from accessing WhatsApp, a crucial gateway to access their customers in the Common Market,” said Willard Mwemba, chief executive officer of the Comesa Competition and Consumer Commission (CCCC).
In addition to the suspicion that the move by Meta will significantly lessen competition in the region, CCCC said it has reason to suspect the company is a dominant player in the region’s digital platforms market.
“As such, the commission will assess the conduct of Meta to determine its effect in the common market and apply appropriate measures as per the regulations,” said Mr Mwemba.
If found guilty, Meta will have to pay up to 10 percent of its annual turnover within the common market as penalty, and could also be ordered to pay damages to competitors or consumers affected by the anti-competitive practice.
In its petition, AdLegal requested the commission to order Meta to suspend the terms and amend the anti-competitive clause, but also to cause the affected competitors to apply to be considered as affected parties, a move that could expose Meta to damage compensation.
As the CCCC proceeds with its probe, the European Commission is also currently looking into a similar issue, and last week issued a statement of objection expressing preliminary concerns that Meta may have violated the bloc’s anti-trust regulations by blocking third party AI platforms from WhatsApp API.
In December, the Italian competition authority stopped Meta from effecting the change, saying it may cause “irreparable harm and damage to competition” in the AI market, as it launched its own investigation into the issue.
Last month, Meta reversed the decision to block third-party chatbots from WhatsApp API for users with Brazilian phone numbers after the country’s anti-trust regulator intervened, albeit for a period of 90 days amid ongoing investigation.
The current probe mirrors the 2022 probe by the South African Competition Commission, which found that Meta had violated anti-trust regulations by blocking the government’s GovChat from using the WhatsApp business API.
Meta has pushed back against the flurry of probes into its decision to lock out third party AI platforms from WhatsApp, saying it was necessary to protect the integrity of the platform.
The company has maintained that the AI chatbots have put a strain on its systems, which were not meant to support chatbots in the first place. It has appealed against Italy’s decision.
