According to available information, Italy’s antitrust authority has taken provisional measures against Meta based on allegations of its abuse of its dominant position in the smart chatbot services market.
The agency said that the conditions introduced by WhatsApp on October 15, and the integration of artificial intelligence's MetaAI mechanisms into the application, could restrict production, market access, or technology development in the AI chatbot services market.
The agency has expanded the scope of its investigation to include Meta entities, focusing on the terms of service of WhatsApp Business, according to Bloomberg News.
The Italian antitrust authority announced last July that it was working with European Commission officials on an investigation into Meta's use of artificial intelligence in WhatsApp, while the European Commission opened an investigation last March to determine whether Meta's artificial intelligence tool was subject to the provisions of the Digital Services Act (DSA).
