Brussels reopens WhatsApp to competing assistants, ChatGPT returns to it

ChatGPT returns to WhatsApp in Europe after the European Commission ordered Meta to restore free access for competing AI assistants during an antitrust probe.

ChatGPT is once again accessible on WhatsApp in the European Economic Area and Switzerland. Users can message the verified contact 1-800-CHATGPT to ask questions, send images or voice notes, generate images, and converse in many languages, with no ChatGPT account required.

This return is not a commercial choice, but the result of an antitrust decision. In October 2025, Meta had modified the terms of its WhatsApp Business API to exclude competing AI assistants, leaving only its own, Meta AI. The ban took effect on January 15, 2026, and ChatGPT left the messaging platform. The European Commission opened an investigation into abuse of dominance, then, on June 9, ordered interim measures: Meta must restore access for competing assistants free of charge, under the previous conditions, and maintain it for the entire duration of the investigation.

The tool used is rare. Interim measures had not been used in European competition law since the Broadcom case in 2009. The Commission ruled that Meta, holding a dominant position in consumer messaging within the European Economic Area, risked tipping the nascent market for AI assistants even before the end of the proceedings. It also rejected the way out proposed by Meta—a paid reopening—estimating that the requested fee made access economically unsustainable for competitors, resulting in a de facto blockage.

OpenAI is accompanying this return with two other arrivals, on Kakao in South Korea and on Viber in the relevant markets. No global return on WhatsApp has been announced at this stage.