The British Communications Authority (Ofcom) announced last Friday that an investigation had been opened into whatsapp information provided by Meta for the market review. Ofcom stated that the survey was related to a business bulk SMS wholesale market assessment conducted last year and that such services were widely used by businesses to send a large number of customer alerts, including booking notices and package delivery updates.
As noted by Ofcom, the available evidence suggests that the information obtained from Meta “may not be complete and accurate” and is being investigated whether Meta’s response to the information during the regulatory body’s market review is meeting the expected criteria. The review focused on the wholesale market for commercial bulk text messages, and regulators, while not specifying that there might be gaps or errors in that information, confirmed that the issue was relevant to Whatsapp. The survey highlighted the reliance of regulators on accurate data from large enterprises in assessing the competitive situation in the communications market, particularly as platforms such as the WhatsApp played an increasingly important role in the field of business communications. Business bulk messaging remains a key tool for institutions requiring the direct delivery of time-sensitive information to clients and is widely used in such areas as medicine, logistics, retail and financial services. Unlike individual text messages, such information is usually transmitted through brokers who process bulk transmission, route and wholesale access.
Ofcom ‘ s market review aims to analyse how wholesale ends operate in the ecosystem and how services are provided to commercial users. It stressed that the survey involved information on whatsapp submitted by Meta as part of the review. At the time of the launch of the British investigation, Meta was facing a wider European regulatory review. In late November last year, the Spanish court found that Meta was required to pay Euro479 million to the publisher group for processing personal data in support of advertising without valid consent, in violation of European Union regulations, between May 2018 and August 2023. In Italy, in late November, competition regulators expanded their investigation of Meta to focus on the integration of its AI function with the WhatsApp and whether the change in whatsApp Business would restrict the competitor ‘ s AI chat robot access. In December, the European Commission indicated that Meta had committed itself to providing Facebook and Instagram users with clearer options for the use of advertising data as of January 2023, in accordance with the compliance requirements of the Digital Market Act.
It was also reported that the European Commission had been preparing a competition investigation on Meta ‘ s integration of AI functions into the WhatsApp, and that regulators were reviewing whether their policies would restrict the access of their competitors ‘ AI providers, which might strengthen Meta ‘ s dominance within the instant communication platform.
