Quick overview

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The European Union intends to begin looking into how Meta Platforms Inc. added AI capabilities to WhatsApp this year, according to the Financial Times, in what may be the most recent investigation into Big Tech’s hegemony over the local internet landscape.

The European Commission is getting ready to launch an investigation into how the US company incorporated its “Meta AI” system into the well-known messaging service.

It also stated that the agency might announce the investigation in the next few days. What part of the rollout, which started in March, the agency might be focusing on is unknown. According to the FT, the commission’s upcoming investigation is grounded in conventional antitrust law rather than the Digital Markets Act. The Trump administration views that broad legislation as a set of guidelines for companies like Alphabet, Google, and Apple Inc. — as the area’s effort to limit the US technology’s impact in Europe.

The EU has in recent years ramped up pressure on Big Tech, seeking to curb potential market abuses as the US tech titans’ clout and digital footprint expanded. US President Donald Trump has long denounced EU antitrust and technology regulations that hinder US businesses

The American president threatened to impose fresh tariffs and export restrictions on advanced technology and semiconductors in retaliation to other nations’ digital services taxes that hit American technology companies.