Ugandan-based competition law regional practice group, AdLegal International has filed a formal complaint before the COMESA Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) against Meta Platforms Inc. and its subsidiary Meta Platforms Ireland Limited, challenging recent changes to WhatsApp’s business terms that allegedly exclude rival AI chatbot services from the platform. The complaint, lodged on 5 January 2026, accuses Meta of abusing its dominant position in the market for consumer messaging services across the COMESA region by blocking third-party artificial intelligence chatbots—such as ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, Google Gemini, Perplexity, Poke, and Luzia—from operating on WhatsApp, while continuing to integrate and promote its own service, Meta AI. According to AdLegal, the policy changes were introduced in October 2025 through amendments to the WhatsApp Business Solution Terms. The revised rules prohibit “providers of artificial intelligence or machine learning technologies” from using WhatsApp as a distribution channel where AI services form their primary function. The firm argues that this effectively shuts out competing AI assistants from reaching users on one of the most widely used digital platforms in Africa. “WhatsApp is not just another app in the COMESA region—it is a critical digital gateway,” the complaint states, pointing to WhatsApp’s exceptionally high penetration in countries such as Kenya, Uganda, Egypt, and Zimbabwe. AdLegal argues that by foreclosing access to this gateway, Meta risks tipping the emerging AI market in its favour, locking users into Meta AI and weakening competition before it has a chance to mature. The filing alleges that Meta’s conduct amounts to a refusal to grant access to an essential platform, unlawful self-preferencing, and the leveraging of dominance from the messaging market into the adjacent market for general-purpose AI assistants. These actions, AdLegal says, violate Regulation 36 of the COMESA Competition and Consumer Protection Regulations, 2025 The complaint further warns that the effects of Meta’s policy are not confined to a single country. Because AI chatbot services typically operate across borders, the restrictions could fragment the regional digital market, limit cross-border trade in AI services, and stifle innovation by smaller and emerging developers who rely on WhatsApp as their primary route to users. AdLegal is seeking urgent interim measures from the Commission to suspend the new WhatsApp terms, arguing that the harm caused by exclusion could become irreversible if Meta AI becomes entrenched as the only AI assistant available on the platform. The firm maintains that once users become accustomed to a single AI provider, switching becomes difficult, potentially locking in Meta’s advantage permanently. The complaint also invites the Commission to allow affected AI companies—including OpenAI, Microsoft, Google, and Perplexity—to join the proceedings as interested parties, given their direct commercial and technological stake in the outcome. If admitted and investigated, the case could become one of the most significant digital competition disputes ever brought before the COMESA regulator, with wide implications for how global technology platforms operate in African markets.