• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer, December 2, 2025

Microsoft has announced that access to Copilot via WhatsApp will end on January 15, 2026.

Meta Platforms, parent company of WhatsApp, will prohibit the use of general purpose AI chatbots -- including OpenAI's ChatGPT, and Perplexity AI -- through its app.

This move is part of a broader strategy by Meta to assert greater control over the AI services operating in its environment. It plans to focus on its own first-party AI, Meta AI -- and to reserve the APIs for other types of businesses such as those that build specialized customer service workflows, rather than hosting third-party general AI assistants.

Meta's existing Business API did not have a pricing model that effectively monetized the open-ended interactions of the general-purpose AI chats.

These third-party bots were using significant system resources without contributing proportionally to Meta's revenue, disrupting the platform's pay-per-message model.

Users who want to continue using these services must transition to the respective stand-alone mobile apps or websites such as Copilot and ChatGPT.

Other general-purpose AI chatbots such as Luzia also have been affected by the new restrictions.

Microsoft explained in a blog post that users will not have the ability to transfer their WhatsApp chat history to the Copilot app or website.

Since access to Copilot on WhatsApp is unauthenticated, Copilot cannot transfer the chat history on other Copilot platforms. Conversations must be exported prior to the January deadline.

Advertisers will need to use Meta's in-house AI for all general-purpose conversational engagement within WhatsApp, giving complete control to Meta so it can more easily integrate conversations into its ad-targeting systems.

Meta will begin using these conversations with its AI assistant to personalize ads and feeds across Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp beginning in December. This may be a positive for advertisers, but TechCrunch reported that users will not have a way to opt out.

Emarketer called the move Meta's most aggressive attempt to monetize AI by turning private interactions into ad signals.

Conversational intent is more powerful than traditional signals such as "likes" or "follows," since it captures what people are actively considering in the moment — whether it is vacation plans, or new products, analysts Gadjo Sevilla and Jeremy Goldman wrote.

Meta says it will not use chats for sensitive topics such as religion, politics, health, or sexual orientation, and encrypted WhatsApp and Messenger conversations will not be included.

The stakes are high for Meta. The company controls nearly 20% of global digital ad spend, and more than 95% of its more than $160 billion in annual revenues comes from advertising, according to Emarketer.

Its ads reached 3.1 billion monthly users in Q2 2025, with U.S. users spending an average of 65 minutes daily on Facebook and Instagram.