WhatsApp to Charge for AI Chatbot in Italy

Meta announced on Wednesday that it will begin charging developers operating chatbots in specific regions, a decision made in response to regulatory demands that the company permit these bots. This move follows Meta's earlier ban on third-party chatbots on WhatsApp, which took effect on January 15.

Initially, Meta will impose fees on developers in Italy, where the country's competition regulator ordered the company to suspend its policy in December. The company stated that new pricing for non-template AI responses will be implemented starting February 16. Meta plans to charge developers $0.0691/€0.0572/£0.0498 per AI-generated response. This could result in significant costs for developers whose AI chatbots experience high daily interaction volumes from users.

Earlier this month, Meta informed developers that it had created an exemption for Italian phone numbers, allowing AI chatbots to continue serving those customers. At that time, the company did not mention any plans to charge developers for this service.

Currently, WhatsApp already charges companies for using its API to send various template-based messages, including those for marketing, utility, or authentication purposes. This category encompasses messages like payment reminders and shipping updates received by users.

"In places where we are legally required to provide AI chatbots via the WhatsApp Business API, we are introducing pricing for companies that choose to use our platform to offer these services," a Meta spokesperson told TechCrunch. This approach could also set a precedent for other regions if Meta is compelled to allow developers to operate their chatbots.

Meta first announced in October of last year its intention to block all third-party AI chatbots from using WhatsApp via its Business API.

Meta explained that its systems were not originally designed to handle AI bot responses and are currently under strain.

"The emergence of AI chatbots on our Business API has placed pressure on our systems that they were not designed to support. This logic assumes WhatsApp is, in some way, a de facto app store. The market access for AI companies is the app stores themselves, their websites, and industry partnerships, not the WhatsApp Business platform," the company stated at the time.

Since then, antitrust investigations have been initiated in several regions, including the EU, Italy, and Brazil. Brazil's regulator initially demanded that Meta suspend the policy. However, a Brazilian court last week sided with Meta and overturned a preliminary injunction blocking the new rules. Consequently, TechCrunch has learned that the company has asked developers not to offer their AI chatbots to users in Brazil.

Since the policy took effect, developers have been forced to send predefined messages to users of their WhatsApp AI chatbots, redirecting them to the developers' websites or applications. Providers like OpenAI, Perplexity, and Microsoft announced last year that their WhatsApp bots would become unavailable after January 15, urging users to access them on other platforms.