Meta said Wednesday that it will begin charging developers to run third-party AI chatbots on WhatsApp in markets where regulators are requiring the company to allow them — starting with Italy.
The company plans to introduce pricing for non-template AI responses on February 16, charging developers $0.0691 (€0.0572/£0.0498) per message. The move follows Meta’s broader ban on third-party AI chatbots through the WhatsApp Business API, which took effect January 15, and could lead to significant costs for developers if users generate high volumes of chatbot queries.
Italy is the first market affected because the country’s competition watchdog asked Meta in December to suspend its chatbot-blocking policy. Earlier this month, Meta created an exemption for Italian phone numbers, allowing developers to continue serving WhatsApp users there — but the company had not initially said it would attach a new fee.
WhatsApp already charges businesses for certain types of template-based messages, such as marketing, authentication, and utility notifications like shipping updates or payment reminders. Meta is now extending that paid model to AI chatbot responses in regions where it is “legally required” to provide access, according to a spokesperson.
Meta first announced in October that it would block third-party AI bots from WhatsApp’s Business API, arguing that its systems were not built to handle automated AI responses at scale and pushing developers to distribute their chatbots through apps, websites, or partnerships instead.
The policy has triggered regulatory scrutiny in several regions, including the EU, Italy, and Brazil. Brazil’s watchdog initially sought to halt the ban, but a court overturned that order last week. Meta has since asked developers not to provide AI chatbots to users in Brazil, TechCrunch reported.
Since the January cutoff, developers have been required to redirect WhatsApp chatbot users to other platforms. Companies including OpenAI, Perplexity, and Microsoft warned last year that their WhatsApp bots would stop working after the ban took effect.
For now, Meta’s new per-message pricing applies only in Italy, but it sets an early precedent for how WhatsApp could handle AI chatbot access — and monetization — in other markets where regulators intervene.
This analysis is based on reporting from techbuzz.
Image courtesy of Unsplash.
This article was generated with AI assistance and reviewed for accuracy and quality.
