BRUSSELS — The European Commission will ask Meta to halt new terms that prevent rival artificial intelligence chatbots from using WhatsApp, acting on concerns that the U.S. company is breaching the bloc’s antitrust rules. 

The EU executive said it sent Meta a chargesheet setting out its concerns on the U.S. tech company’s behavior. Brussels’ preliminary view is that Meta breached EU antitrust rules by excluding third party AI assistants from accessing and interacting with users on WhatsApp.

Speaking to Bloomberg TV after the announcement, competition chief Teresa Ribera stressed that the EU’s decision is not a political one nor is it motivated by a focus on U.S. companies. 

“My sense is that this is not connected to politics, but connected to well-functioning markets and the protection of consumers,” she said, adding that companies abusing their market power is bad news in every geography.” It is not good news in Europe. It is not good news in the United States.”

The commissioner said in a statement issued earlier that it was crucial to protect innovation in artificial intelligence, which is a rapidly evolving space. “That is why we are considering quickly imposing interim measures on Meta, to preserve access for competitors to WhatsApp while the investigation is ongoing, and avoid Meta’s new policy irreparably harming competition in Europe,” she said.

The Donald Trump administration has repeatedly criticized the EU for targeting U.S companies with its antitrust rules, particularly on digital platforms, and has pushed the EU to soften its stance amid a tense trade relationship.

The Commission late last year launched an investigation into the “WhatsApp Business Solution” — a tool for businesses to communicate with customers — following a similar probe by the Italian antitrust authority. Italy ordered Meta to stop its practices in December, but the measure only applied within national borders. Expectations had been building up for the Commission to follow suit.

The investigation focuses on a recently introduced policy by Meta that prohibits AI providers from using the WhatsApp Business Solution when AI is the primary service offered.

“The Commission intends to impose interim measures to prevent this policy change from causing serious and irreparable harm on the market, subject to Meta’s reply and rights of Defence,” the statement said.

Meta criticized the Commission’s reasoning, which was instead welcomed by rival chatbot providers.

“The facts are that there is no reason for the EU to intervene in the WhatsApp Business API,” a Meta spokesperson said in a statement, adding that there are multiple AI options available to consumers. “The Commission’s logic incorrectly assumes the WhatsApp Business API is a key distribution channel for these chatbots.”

Marvin von Hagen, chief executive of Interaction, which provides one of the rival chatbots, praised the Commission’s decision. 

“The Commission’s intervention can help provide necessary protection for companies pushing the boundaries of AI technology, ensuring that merit, not market dominance, determines success and that consumers can benefit from real choice and innovative services,” he said in a statement.

This story has been updated.