Meta Hit With WhatsApp AI Antitrust Probe. What It Means for the Stock.

The European Union on Thursday opened a formal investigation into Meta Platforms over the AI features on WhatsApp. (Julien De Rosa/AFP via Getty Images)

Facebook parent Meta Platforms was hit by an antitrust investigation from the European Union on Thursday, although the Brussels probe wasn’t fazing investors and will have little impact on the stock.

Shares in Meta climbed 0.8% to $642.43 ahead of the opening bell. Futures tracking the S&P 500 were up 0.1%.

The European Commission said it was looking into a policy that prohibits artificial-intelligence providers from using a WhatsApp tool that allows businesses to communicate with their customers. Brussels is concerned that the policy, adopted in October 2025, violates antitrust rules.

“As a result of the new policy, competing AI providers may be blocked from reaching their customers through WhatsApp,” the European Commission said. “On the other hand, Meta’s own AI service ‘Meta AI’ would remain accessible to users on the platform.”

The investigation will exclude Italy, which is conducting a probe of its own.

“The claims are baseless. The emergence of AI chatbots on our Business API puts a strain on our systems that they were not designed to support,” a WhatsApp spokesperson said in a statement to Barron’s.

There’s little reason for Wall Street to worry. EU antitrust investigations tend to be long and drawn out, and even if the trading bloc imposed a sizeable fine on Meta, it probably wouldn’t hurt shares.

The EU fined Meta 200 million euros ($234 million) in April over its data collection policies. That’s a drop in the water for the social-media company, which delivered $2.71 billion over the third quarter.

Write to George Glover at george.glover@dowjones.com