ChatGPT faces Whatsapp ban: OpenAI announces counter policy

Whatsapp is implementing a new policy which will see OpenAI’s chatbots kicked off its platforms, starting January 2026.

The popular messenger application has updated the terms of its Business Application Programming Interfaces (API), effectively making general-purpose AI chatbots no longer functional on its platform.

According to NDTV, “The updated policy adds a dedicated clause for ‘AI Providers’, prohibiting developers of large-language models or generative-AI assistants from distributing their bots via WhatsApp’s business infrastructure if those tools are the platform's primary functionality.”

OpenAI has since confirmed the pending change on X (formerly called Twitter), sharing that “1-800-ChatGPT won’t work on WhatsApp after Jan 15, 2026.”

However, the company also reminded users about its own “app, website, and browser you can use instead to access ChatGPT.”

While part of the application’s updated terms and conditions announced the disallowance of AI providers and developers “for the purposes of providing, delivering, offering, selling, or otherwise making available such technologies when such technologies are the primary (rather than incidental or ancillary) functionality being made available for use, as determined by Meta in its sole discretion.”

Meanwhile, AI firms would need to comply with Whatsapp’s updated policy “to shift their WhatsApp-based offerings or explore alternative channels”, whereas Meta AI is set to become the social platform’s sole general-purpose chatbot.