Meta AI, an AI-based chatbot, appeared on WhatsApp in March 2025 as the new default search bar. It wasn’t a user’s choice \u2014 the feature was integrated automatically, without asking for consent and without any option to disable it. For the Italian antitrust authority AGCM, this is not just a matter of user comfort but a potential abuse of dominant market position.<\/p>
According to AGCM, Meta may have used its control over the most popular messenger in Europe to unfairly promote its own AI service and thus limit access to alternative tools. Particular concern was raised that the more often people use Meta AI, the more accurate its responses become<\/strong>, which creates an advantage that is difficult for competitors to reverse.<\/p> In collaboration with the Italian financial police, AGCM conducted an inspection at Meta’s offices in Italy. The investigation, carried out together with the European Commission, covers not only competition aspects but also personal data protection.<\/p> The consumer organization Codacons filed a separate notice. According to them, adding Meta AI without the option to disable it and the lack of transparency in data processing violates the GDPR. This is despite Meta’s assurances that AI operates “independently” and that conversations remain encrypted.<\/p> Not only Italy has reservations. In Ireland, where Meta’s European headquarters is located, the local regulator has halted the deployment of the new feature. Hamburg, Germany, which also investigated the matter, ultimately dropped the investigation but emphasized the need for greater transparency in the actions of digital platforms.<\/p> At the same time, MEPs have approached the European Commission asking about the compliance of Meta’s actions with the Digital Services Act and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). They point to the lack of a transparent consent mechanism and the inability to remove features as possible violations of these acts.<\/p> Meta refutes the allegations, stating that Meta AI does not interfere with user privacy, operates independently of the chat content, and does not process personal data unlawfully. At the same time, the company acknowledges that the new feature cannot be deactivated, which according to experts, may be crucial in the legal assessment of the case.<\/p> The AGCM proceedings may set a precedent for the entire European Union<\/strong>. The integration of AI services without explicit user consent, especially in widely used applications, opens a new chapter in the relationship between Big Tech and European regulations. Can a digital assistant be default in an application used by billions of people? Should users have the option to disable each feature?<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Italy is initiating proceedings against Meta Platforms for alleged abuse of dominant position. The reason is the direct integration of the Meta AI assistant with WhatsApp without user consent and no option to disable it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":89,"featured_media":12932,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[813],"tags":[862],"popular":[84],"difficulty-level":[36],"ppma_author":[844],"class_list":["post-13010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ai-news-2","tag-meta-ai-2","popular-tak","difficulty-level-easy"],"acf":[],"authors":[{"term_id":844,"user_id":0,"is_guest":1,"slug":"karolina-ceron-2","display_name":"Karolina Cero\u0144","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/haimagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/PXL_20250419_110132091.MP4-scaled.jpg","url2x":"https:\/\/haimagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/PXL_20250419_110132091.MP4-scaled.jpg"},"first_name":"Karolina","last_name":"Cero\u0144","user_url":"","job_title":"","description":"Wsp\u00f3\u0142tw\u00f3rczyni newslettera AI Flash, studentka psychologii i pasjonatka sztucznej inteligencji. Interesuj\u0119 si\u0119 wp\u0142ywem nowych technologii na cz\u0142owieka, a w wolnych chwilach eksperymentuj\u0119 z generatywn\u0105 grafik\u0105 w Midjourney."}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/haimagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/haimagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/haimagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haimagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/89"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haimagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13010"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/haimagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13010\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13011,"href":"https:\/\/haimagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13010\/revisions\/13011"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haimagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/haimagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haimagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haimagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13010"},{"taxonomy":"popular","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haimagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/popular?post=13010"},{"taxonomy":"difficulty-level","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haimagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/difficulty-level?post=13010"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haimagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=13010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Controls and cooperation with Brussels<\/strong><\/h4>
Europe says “stop” \u2014 but ambiguously<\/strong><\/h4>
What is Meta’s stance?<\/strong><\/h4>
What’s next?<\/strong><\/h4>