The Brazilian Administrative Council for Economic Defense (Cade) maintained the daily fine of 250 thousand reais (40 thousand euros) to WhatsApp and the Brazilian subsidiary of Meta, for non-compliance with the decision of the antitrust regulatory body.
Lusa had access to the published decision, which had already determined, earlier this month, the suspension of the entry into force of new terms of use for WhatsApp Business that would prohibit artificial intelligence (AI) providers and programmers from accessing or using the application’s ecosystem to offer services.
The case began in October 2025, when the most popular messaging application in Brazil announced that it would adopt, from January 15 of this year, new terms of use that would prohibit AI providers from accessing or using its ecosystem.
The administrative inquiry was opened by Cade at the request of the companies Factoría Elcano, responsible for IA Luzia, and Brainlogic, owner of Zapia, which requested the Brazilian federal agency to adopt preventive measures.
The companies questioned the changes promoted by Meta in the terms of use of the WhatsApp Business API, which would have the potential to restrict the activities of competing artificial intelligence chatbot programmers.
On March 4, the Cade Court ordered the suspension and non-application of the new WhatsApp Business Terms of Use in Brazil until a final decision on the merits, as well as the reestablishment of the conditions prior to their implementation.
Cade also determined that merely abstaining from applying the new terms would not be enough, and WhatsApp must adopt concrete measures to ensure that chatbots that were eventually excluded could resume their activities.
On March 5th, Meta informed Cade that it would adopt measures to comply with the preventive measure, indicating, however, that it would start charging, from March 11th, for ‘non-template’ messages sent by artificial intelligence chatbots to Brazilian users, applying a rate equivalent to the category of marketing messages.
Big tech also argued the economic rationality of the proposed pricing model, claiming there was no obligation to provide access to the platform for free.
Whatsapp and Meta also said that chatbots could overload the application’s infrastructure and that AI programmers would not depend on the application’s ecosystem to compete in the market for artificial intelligence solutions for instant messaging.
Even so, Cade rejected the arguments and understood that there was a failure to comply with preventive measures.
“On the merits, it was found that the implementation of the so-called ‘pricing for chatbots’ constitutes non-compliance with the Preventive Measure imposed by this General Superintendence and confirmed by the CADE Court, insofar as: (i) it substantially changed the conditions of access to the platform, in disagreement with the duty to reestablish the status quo ante; and (ii) it produced effects potentially equivalent to those resulting from the previously suspended provisions”wrote Cade’s technical area in an opinion obtained by Lusa.
As a result, the opinion of the technical area, accepted by Cade’s General Superintendent, determined a daily fine in the amount of 250 thousand reais, until the ‘big techs’ prove “full compliance with the Preventive Measure”.
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