Meta revealed on Wednesday that it will begin imposing fees on developers who operate chatbots through WhatsApp in areas where regulatory bodies are compelling the company to permit such services. This decision follows the enforcement of Meta’s prohibition on third-party chatbots within WhatsApp, which started on January 15.

Initially, the charges will apply to developers in Italy, where the national competition authority instructed Meta to halt its restrictive policy last December. The new pricing for non-template AI-generated responses is scheduled to take effect on February 16. Developers will be billed $0.0691, €0.0572, or £0.0498 per message for these AI interactions. Given the potential for users to exchange thousands of queries daily, this could lead to significant costs for developers.

Earlier this month, Meta notified developers that it was creating an exception for Italian phone numbers, allowing AI chatbots to continue serving those users. At that time, the company did not indicate any intention to introduce fees.

WhatsApp already charges businesses for using its API to send predefined template messages, which cover scenarios like marketing campaigns, utility notifications, and authentication processes. These include messages such as payment reminders and shipping updates.

Should Meta be compelled to permit chatbot operations in other regions, this move could set a precedent for additional geographies. The company originally announced in October that it would block all third-party AI chatbots from accessing WhatsApp via its Business API, explaining that its systems were not built to handle AI bot responses and were experiencing strain.

“The emergence of AI chatbots on our Business API put a strain on our systems that they were not designed to support. This logic assumes WhatsApp is somehow a de facto app store. The route to market for AI companies is the app stores themselves, their websites, and industry partnerships; not the WhatsApp Business Platform,” Meta stated at the time.

Since then, authorities in several regions, including the European Union, Italy, and Brazil, have launched anticompetitive investigations. Brazil’s regulator initially requested that Meta suspend the policy, but a Brazilian court recently ruled in Meta’s favor, overturning the preliminary order that had blocked the new rules.

With the policy now in effect, developers are required to send a predefined message to users of their WhatsApp AI chatbots, redirecting them to the developer’s own website or app. Last year, providers such as OpenAI, Perplexity, and Microsoft announced that their WhatsApp bots would cease functioning after January 15, encouraging users to access their services through alternative platforms.