WhatsApp is allowing AI providers to continue offering their chatbots to users with Brazilian phone numbers, just a few days after the country’s competition regulator ordered the app to pause its new policy that prevents third-party, general-purpose chatbots from using its business API.
Under the new policy, WhatsApp had set a 90-day grace period, starting January 15, during which developers and AI providers needed to stop responding to user inquiries on the app and inform users that their chatbots would no longer function on WhatsApp.
Now, Meta has informed developers that they do not need to notify users with Brazilian phone numbers (country code +55) about any changes or cease offering their services, according to a notice to AI providers obtained by TechCrunch.
“The requirement to stop responding to user queries and use pre-approved auto-reply language (mentioned below) before January 15, 2026, no longer applies to messages sent to people with a Brazil country code (+55),” the notice states.
WhatsApp has yet to respond to inquiries seeking to confirm this decision.
The new policy, which takes effect today, affects general-purpose chatbots like ChatGPT and Grok on the platform. Importantly, it does not prevent businesses from providing customer service via bots on WhatsApp.
In its notice, Brazil’s competition agency announced it would investigate whether Meta’s terms are exclusionary to competitors and give undue advantage to Meta AI, the company’s chatbot available on WhatsApp.
Meta has previously granted a similar exemption to users in Italy after that country’s competition agency raised concerns about the policy back in December. In a separate case, the EU has also begun an antitrust investigation into the new rules.
The company has consistently argued that AI chatbots are putting a strain on its systems, which were designed for different uses of its business API. Meta has previously stated that people interested in using other chatbots can do so outside WhatsApp.
“These claims are fundamentally flawed,” a WhatsApp spokesperson said in response to the Brazilian competition agency’s investigation on Tuesday. “The rise of AI chatbots on our Business API has stressed systems that were not designed to support them. This logic suggests that WhatsApp should serve as a de facto app store, while the actual routes for AI companies are app stores, their own websites, and industry partnerships—not the WhatsApp Business Platform.”
