“Replacing the legal ban with pricing that has a similar effect does not change our preliminary view that Meta’s conduct appears to be an abuse of its dominant position,” Executive Vice President Teresa Ribera said in a statement.
The EU executive is considering whether to impose rare interim measures on Meta to restore access.
The updated charge sheet follows Meta’s March announcement that it had replaced the ban with a new pricing framework. The tech giant said at the time that the change in Europe is intended to provide the Commission with “the time it needs to conclude its investigation.”
Meta maintains that the AI sector is “highly competitive,” and that rival AI services remain available to customers through app stores, search engines, email providers and operating systems.
“The European Commission is proposing to use its regulatory powers to enable some of the largest companies in the world to use the paid-for WhatsApp Business product for free,” Joshua Breckman, a spokesperson for Meta, said in response to the Commission’s chargesheet.
Breckman added that interim measures would be to the benefit of competitors like OpenAI and to the detriment of consumers: “This means that a small bakery in France paying to use the service to take croissant orders will be picking up the tab for OpenAI. Small European businesses shouldn’t foot OpenAI’s bill.”
This report has been updated.