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Meta Exempts Italy From WhatsApp Ban on Rival AI Chatbots After Antitrust Order

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Meta Platforms will exclude Italy from its planned ban on rival artificial intelligence chatbots on WhatsApp, following an order from the country’s antitrust authority, according to a notice sent to AI providers and developers and seen by Reuters.

Italy’s competition watchdog, AGCM, last month instructed Meta to suspend the proposed ban while it investigates the company for a suspected abuse of market power, after complaints from rival AI providers. At the European level, the European Commission is also examining whether Meta violated competition rules by restricting access for third-party AI chatbots on WhatsApp, although it has not imposed interim measures.

Blocking rival AI providers from WhatsApp could significantly benefit Meta’s own chatbot and virtual assistant, Meta AI, which was integrated into the messaging platform last year. Critics argue that limiting competitors’ access would further strengthen Meta’s position in AI-powered consumer services.

In its notice to developers circulated earlier this month, Meta said that phone numbers with an Italian country code (+39) are currently exempt from WhatsApp’s updated terms of service, in order to comply with the Italian regulator’s order. The revised terms are scheduled to take effect on January 15 for users outside Italy.

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Meta declined to comment on the changes, referring instead to a previous statement that said the rapid emergence of AI chatbots has placed strain on WhatsApp’s systems, which were not originally designed to support such services. The Italian antitrust authority also declined to comment.

The Italian carve-out drew sharp criticism from rivals. The Interaction Company of California, which developed the AI assistant Poke.com and filed complaints with both Italian and EU regulators, said Meta’s response was insufficient.

“Meta’s move to keep enforcing its new WhatsApp API policy—shutting out AI rivals like Poke.com while only carving out +39 numbers—is deeply disappointing,” said Marvin von Hagen, the company’s co-founder and chief executive. He added that the Italian authority had already found Meta’s conduct to be, at first glance, anti-competitive under EU law, and urged the European Commission to adopt interim measures across the bloc.

Meta Launches “Meta Compute” to Scale AI Infrastructure and Power Superintelligence Push

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Meta has unveiled a new initiative called Meta Compute, aimed at building large-scale artificial intelligence infrastructure and managing the company’s global network of data centres and supplier partnerships as it pursues what it calls superintelligence.

Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said the initiative will be co-led by Santosh Janardhan, Meta’s head of global infrastructure, and Daniel Gross. Janardhan will continue overseeing Meta’s technical foundations and data centre operations, while Gross will head a newly created group responsible for strategic capacity planning and business partnerships.

Both executives will work closely with Dina Powell McCormick, who recently joined Meta’s leadership team, Zuckerberg said in a post on Threads.

Meta Compute sits at the core of Meta’s aggressive push into frontier AI and so-called personal superintelligence—a theoretical stage where machines surpass human cognitive abilities. Zuckerberg said the company is investing heavily in data centres and the energy systems required to run them, noting that Meta plans to build “tens of gigawatts” of capacity this decade and potentially “hundreds of gigawatts or more” over the longer term.

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Such computing ambitions would consume electricity on the scale of small cities or even countries, raising concerns about pressure on resources such as power and water. The move comes as Meta seeks to regain momentum in the competitive AI race following a lukewarm response to its Llama 4 model. The company has committed up to $72 billion in capital expenditure in 2025 alone.

Across the tech sector, rising AI workloads are driving a surge in U.S. power demand for the first time in two decades. To secure long-term energy supplies, Meta has signed 20-year agreements to purchase electricity from nuclear plants operated by Vistra and has partnered with two companies developing small modular nuclear reactors.

Big Tech to Avoid Strict Obligations in EU Digital Rules Overhaul, Sources Say

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Major U.S. technology companies including Alphabet, Meta Platforms, Netflix, Microsoft and Amazon are set to avoid strict new regulatory obligations under the European Union’s upcoming overhaul of digital rules, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter.

Despite strong lobbying from telecoms companies for tougher measures targeting Big Tech, the companies will instead fall under a voluntary framework as part of the planned Digital Networks Act (DNA), the sources said. The European Commission has declined to comment.

The DNA, which will be presented by EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen on January 20, is aimed at boosting Europe’s competitiveness and encouraging greater investment in telecoms infrastructure. The proposal will still need approval from EU member states and the European Parliament before it can become law.

Under the draft rules, Big Tech firms will be encouraged to cooperate voluntarily with telecoms operators in discussions moderated by BEREC, rather than being subject to binding obligations similar to those imposed on telecoms providers. One source described the approach as a “best practices regime” with no new mandatory requirements.

The planned overhaul will also address spectrum policy, with the Commission setting out guidance on licence duration, sale conditions and pricing methodologies to be used by national regulators during spectrum auctions, which often generate billions of euros for governments. While the goal is to harmonise spectrum allocation across the EU and reduce regulatory burdens for telecoms firms, some national regulators are expected to resist what they may see as increased centralisation of power.

In addition, the Commission plans to issue guidance on the rollout of fibre infrastructure, a key element of the EU’s digital strategy to narrow the gap with the United States and China. Governments may also be allowed to extend the 2030 deadline for replacing copper networks with fibre if they can demonstrate they are not ready to meet the target.

The EU’s digital policy push has drawn criticism from Washington in recent years, with U.S. officials arguing that new rules unfairly target American companies. Brussels has repeatedly rejected those claims.