No more ChatGPT and Perplexity on WhatsApp! Meta is quietly updating its policy on third-party AI chatbots

Meta seems intent on maintaining its monopoly in the AI ​​chatbot arena on WhatsApp. Since launching Meta AI, the company has prominently added AI features to WhatsApp and other social media platforms it owns without any “kill switch” for users who don’t want to interact with them. The company also announced earlier this month that it will use conversations with Meta AI to show ads to users on its various platforms. In a new update, Meta quietly changed its business API policy on WhatsApp to ban common AI chatbots on the personal messaging giant. The new policy was published on 18 October and will take effect from 15 January 2026. ​The move will mean that third-party AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, Luzia and Poke, which have launched their chatbots on WhatsApp, will have to shut down their operations on the platform. ​”Providers and developers of artificial intelligence or machine learning technologies, including but not limited to large language models, generative artificial intelligence platforms, general purpose artificial intelligence assistants, or similar technologies as determined by Meta in its sole discretion (“AI Providers”), are strictly prohibited from directly obtaining the WhatsApp Business Solution, either directly or for providing the Business Solution provides, whether for direct purposes, delivers, offers, sells, or otherwise makes available such technologies when such technology is the primary (rather than incidental or ancillary) functionality made available for use, as determined by Meta in its sole discretion,” the updated WhatsApp Business API Policy reads. Meta AI will remain the only AI chatbot on WhatsApp. Meta also noted that this new policy will not affect businesses that use AI for customer service, for example e-commerce platforms, banks, travel companies and healthcare providers. A spokesperson for Meta told TechCrunch that the AI ​​chatbots put a lot of strain on its system and led to increased message volume, requiring a different kind of support that it is not yet ready for. While Meta cites the additional load on its servers as the reason for the move, the rivalry in the field of artificial intelligence has not been hidden from the public eye. Earlier this year, Meta set up its Superintelligence Labs and poached a lot of top talent from OpenAI, among other AI companies. Most of the AI ​​labs are in a race to reach Superintelligence – a hypothetical stage in the development of AI where it can perform most tasks as well as humans, or maybe even better.