Cade’s decision maintains a daily charge of R$250,000 against WhatsApp for limiting access to AI chatbots

Conselho Administrativo of Defesa Econômica decided to maintain the daily fine of R$250,000 against Meta, the company responsible for WhatsApp. The penalty refers to non-compliance with the preventive measure that prevents the application of new restrictive terms to third-party artificial intelligence services on the platform. The decision by the agency’s general superintendence reinforces the need to preserve access for alternative chatbots while the investigation into possible abuse of a dominant position continues.

The preventive measure was imposed in January this year after Meta announced changes to the terms of use of WhatsApp Business. Essas changes prohibited providers of general purpose AI chatbots from making their tools available in the application, which in practice would only favor the company’s own solution. Cade opened an administrative investigation to determine whether such rules constitute an anti-competitive practice and ordered the immediate suspension of implementation in Brasil.

• The investigation seeks to verify whether Meta uses its dominance in the messaging market to exclude competitors in the artificial intelligence segment.
• The preventive measure aims to restore the scenario prior to the announcement of the new terms, allowing assistants such as ChatGPT and Copilot to operate.
• The daily fine remains valid until the company proves full compliance with the determination.

Restrictions imposed by Meta and reaction from Cade

Meta began to prohibit the availability of general utility AI chatbots on WhatsApp as of updates announced at the end of 2025. The company claimed that such services generate operational impacts and that the platform requires significant investments to maintain its free access to the end user. Diante Furthermore, the superintendence of Cade assessed that the introduction of specific charges for messages sent by these chatbots changes the access conditions and violates the preventive order.

In March 2026, the agency’s technical area pointed out non-compliance from the 17th after Meta started charging for a specific type of message sent by AI chatbots to Brazilian users. Essa Rate would be equivalent to that applied to marketing messages. Cade considered that this practice changes the status quo that the preventive measure sought to preserve and, therefore, initiated an administrative incident to formalize the assessment.

The company was given a period of five calendar days to comply with the requirements. The fine of R$250,000 per day continues to be applied until it is proven that access to alternative chatbots has been reestablished without additional restrictions. The main investigation remains ongoing on Conselho Administrativo of Defesa Econômica.

Arguments presented by Meta

Meta appealed the decision and claimed there was no formal notice, arguing that the email communication was for informational purposes only. The company also argued that publication on Diário Oficial of União would be necessary to validate the administrative process. Além in addition, argued that the charge applied to chatbots would not be included in the original decision of Cade.

The body’s technical area countered these points and stated that the company’s knowledge was assured, without prejudice to the adversarial process and broad defense. Cade highlighted that the implementation of the charge changes the conditions of access to the platform and, therefore, constitutes non-compliance with the preventive measure. The superintendency maintained the application of the daily fine until the previous scenario was reestablished.

Company position on costs and competition

In a note, Meta stated that offering WhatsApp worldwide requires significant investments. The company criticized the requirement to make a service that other companies charge for at no cost to AI assistant companies. Segundo to Meta, small and medium businesses that use the WhatsApp API no Brasil would end up subsidizing big players like OpenAI and other large assistants.

The company reinforced that it will appeal the decision of Cade. Meta maintained that there is no obligation to offer free access to the platform and that free chatbots could generate operational and competitive impacts. Apesar In addition, the agency’s general superintendence decided to maintain the daily penalty until the order was complied with.

Details of the preventive measure in place

The determination of Cade requires WhatsApp to continue allowing general purpose AI chatbots to operate on the platform. The measure prevents the application of previously announced rules that restricted the presence of these services. The ongoing investigation seeks to deepen the analysis of possible favoring of Meta AI itself to the detriment of competing solutions.

The case gained relevance because WhatsApp has massive reach among Brazilian users. Maintaining the daily fine signals the agency’s intention to ensure that market conditions remain unchanged during the investigation of the facts. The company has the right to present new statements in the process.

Superintendência-General of Cade continues to monitor compliance with the decision. Qualquer new movement by Meta in relation to the terms of use may generate additional developments in the administrative investigation. The process continues under technical analysis by the body responsible for protecting competition in the country.