---
title: "WhatsApp to charge AI chatbots per message in Italy"
description: "From February 16, Meta will charge about 7 cents per AI chatbot message in Italy. Elsewhere, third-party chatbots have been banned."
url: https://kurddevelopers.com/en/news/whatsapp-charges-ai-chatbots-italy
language: en # English
type: news
published: 2026-01-28T17:15:00.000Z
updated: 2026-11-01T22:22:45.000Z
author: "Osamah Ismail"
author_url: https://kurddevelopers.com/en/author/1
section: "Mobile"
tags: ["WhatsApp","Meta","AI","Chatbots","Italy"]
sources: ["Reuters","TechCrunch"]
image: https://kurddevelopers.com/uploads/2026/11/rukeqtvnjdy-c10b58df.png
translations:
  ku: https://kurddevelopers.com/news/whatsapp-charges-ai-chatbots-italy
  ar: https://kurddevelopers.com/ar/news/whatsapp-charges-ai-chatbots-italy
publisher: Kurd Developers
publisher_url: https://kurddevelopers.com/
---

# WhatsApp to charge AI chatbots per message in Italy

> From February 16, Meta will charge about 7 cents per AI chatbot message in Italy. Elsewhere, third-party chatbots have been banned.

![Image: WhatsApp](https://kurddevelopers.com/uploads/2026/11/rukeqtvnjdy-c10b58df.png)

**Meta** announced that from **February 16** it will charge companies running AI chatbots on **WhatsApp** in **Italy**.

## Pricing

| Currency | Per message |
|---|---|
| USD | $0.0691 |
| EUR | €0.0572 |
| GBP | £0.0498 |

## Why only Italy?

- Since **January 15**, WhatsApp has banned third-party AI chatbots (such as ChatGPT)
- In December, Italy's competition authority ordered Meta to suspend that policy
- So in Italy, instead of a ban, Meta introduced a **fee**
- A court in **Brazil** sided with Meta

A Meta spokesperson said: "We are introducing pricing for companies that use our platform."

## What it means for the region

In Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, this means third-party AI chatbots will no longer work easily on WhatsApp. WhatsApp's own Meta AI stays.

**Sources:** Reuters, TechCrunch

---

Published by [Kurd Developers](https://kurddevelopers.com/) on 2026-01-28. Cite as: “WhatsApp to charge AI chatbots per message in Italy”, Kurd Developers, https://kurddevelopers.com/en/news/whatsapp-charges-ai-chatbots-italy