Monorepo

WhatsApp tightens terms to bar third-party AI chatbots, prompting OpenAI and Microsoft exits

WhatsApp tightens terms to bar third-party AI chatbots, prompting OpenAI and Microsoft exits
source: gettyimages
February 9, 2026

Dominic Preston, a news editor with more than a decade in journalism who has previously worked at Android Police and Tech Advisor, reports on how Meta’s WhatsApp update is reshaping AI on the platform.

Meta has updated the WhatsApp Business Solution terms to prohibit distributing AI chatbots that aren’t built by Meta. The changes take effect on January 15, 2026, and, according to OpenAI and Microsoft, their respective chat products will remain accessible on WhatsApp until that date.

Under the updated policy, users of ChatGPT can link their accounts to WhatsApp so their chat history can be retained across platforms, but Copilot users will not have that option.

The modification follows WhatsApp’s October announcement banning the use of its Business API as a distribution channel for third-party AI chatbots. Other companies can still employ WhatsApp for customer service or support chatbots, but the rule explicitly targets situations where the AI itself is the product—effectively stopping competitors from using WhatsApp to reach customers.

A Meta spokesperson told TechCrunch that the WhatsApp Business API exists to help businesses provide customer support and deliver relevant updates, emphasizing that the focus is on supporting the tens of thousands of businesses building experiences on WhatsApp.

Analysts expect other third-party AI chatbots, including Perplexity, to announce departures from WhatsApp ahead of the January deadline, potentially leaving Meta’s own AI offerings as the sole option on the platform next year.

Follow this story for updates and more context from Dominic Preston.

Related links

By submitting, I confirm I have the right to share this link and I agree to link back to this article from the submitted page. Duplicate URLs are rejected. Up to 5 links per page.

GraphQL · 142 ms 
query Q($id: Int!, $domain: Int!, $srcId: Int!, $hasSrc: Boolean!, $hasSelf: Boolean!) {
  self: qa_ai(where: {id: {_eq: $id}}, limit: 1) @include(if: $hasSelf) { id title text date }
  linksarticle: qa_ai(where: {domain: {_eq: $domain}, id: {_neq: $id}}, order_by: {id: desc}, limit: 8) { id title }
  linksbottom: qa_ai(where: {domain: {_neq: $domain}, id: {_lt: $id}}, order_by: {id: desc}, limit: 3) { id title domain }
  source: qa_ai(where: {id: {_eq: $srcId}}, limit: 1) @include(if: $hasSrc) { id title }
}
{
  "id": 6645623,
  "domain": 7,
  "srcId": 0,
  "hasSrc": false,
  "hasSelf": true
}