Amid an ongoing regulatory tussle with European privacy authorities, Meta has officially announced the rollout of its AI-powered virtual assistant, Meta AI, in the European Union. The chatbot-like tool will now be integrated across Meta’s social platforms, albeit with a more restricted feature set compared to its U.S. counterpart.
Additionally, Meta has confirmed to TechCrunch that Meta AI will soon be available on WhatsApp in the U.K., expanding beyond its existing presence on Facebook, Instagram, and Ray-Ban Meta glasses, where it has been accessible since its initial launch in October.
First introduced in the U.S. in 2023, Meta AI functions as an advanced AI assistant, capable of engaging in conversations, answering queries, generating images, and even creating artistic selfies. However, these creative functionalities are not yet included in the European version.
Last month, a chat-based version of Meta AI was also introduced in select countries across the Middle East and Africa. Now, starting this week, Meta AI is expanding to all 27 EU countries, along with 14 additional European nations and 21 overseas territories, including Iceland, Norway, Serbia, and Switzerland.
Beyond one-on-one interactions, Meta AI will also be available in group chats across Meta’s various apps. However, its rollout will be phased, with WhatsApp being the first platform to receive the feature in both the EU and, as previously mentioned, the U.K.
Privacy Pushback
The EU launch of Meta AI is the latest step in Meta’s ongoing push to expand its AI capabilities across Europe, despite regulatory hurdles related to user data privacy.
While Meta has been utilizing user-generated content to train its AI models in the U.S. for years, the company faces stronger resistance in the EU due to the region’s strict privacy regulations, particularly the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Under these regulations, Meta must establish a valid legal basis before processing user data to enhance its AI models.
Despite these challenges, Meta took its first step toward AI-driven data processing last May by notifying regional users of a forthcoming privacy policy change. The update informed users that their comments, interactions, status updates, photos, and captions could soon be used to train Meta’s AI models. The company justified this move by arguing that such data was necessary to ensure its AI reflected the diverse languages, geography, and cultural nuances of people in Europe.
However, in June, Meta was forced to suspend these plans following regulatory scrutiny from the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC)—Meta’s primary EU data protection regulator. The DPC raised concerns about how Meta was obtaining user consent for data processing.
The core issue? Meta had implemented an opt-out system rather than an opt-in, meaning users had to take action to prevent their data from being used for AI training. Meta attempted to justify this by citing “legitimate interests” under GDPR, claiming compliance with EU law. However, the DPC disagreed, forcing Meta to reassess its approach.
No Local Data Training in the EU
Meta has since confirmed to TechCrunch that the version of Meta AI launching in the EU has not been trained on local user data. As a result, Meta won’t be sending notifications or requesting consent, arguing that its AI technology hasn’t utilized personal user information from European users.
“The model powering these Meta AI features wasn’t trained on first-party data from users in the EU,” said Anna Dack, Meta’s innovation communications manager for EMEA, in a statement to TechCrunch.
Similar Regulatory Hurdles in the U.K.
Meta faced a comparable regulatory battle in the U.K., which, despite Brexit, still enforces a data protection framework based on GDPR.
Last summer, the U.K.’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) requested that Meta pause its AI training plans due to concerns over its use of user data. However, after Meta made slight adjustments to its opt-out process, the company proceeded with the U.K. launch of Meta AI. While the ICO didn’t formally block the rollout, it stated that it would “monitor the situation” closely.
When asked whether Meta AI has started using U.K. user data for training, a company spokesperson referred TechCrunch to Meta’s September announcement, which mentioned plans to begin AI model training on user content “in the coming months.” This suggests that Meta has yet to implement full-scale AI training in the U.K.
‘Intelligent Chat’ Functionality in the EU
For now, Meta AI in the EU will be limited to what the company describes as an “intelligent chat function”, supporting six European languages:
- English
- French
- Spanish
- Portuguese
- German
- Italian
At this stage, the tool functions as an integrated chatbot across Meta’s platforms, including WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, and Facebook. Users can activate the assistant by tapping a small blue circle icon and asking it search-engine-like questions, such as how to perform a task or find specific information.
As mentioned earlier, Meta AI will also support group chats, but this feature will be rolled out gradually. The launch begins with WhatsApp, followed by Messenger and Instagram Direct Messaging “soon.”
Users can call upon the assistant by typing “@MetaAI”, followed by a query—such as restaurant recommendations or details on a top tourist attraction in a specific city.
While Meta claims in its announcement that Meta AI has “an advanced understanding of what you’re looking for,” the company clarifies that this does not imply any form of personalized recommendations based on user data. Instead, this marketing statement simply refers to making content searches more intuitive and accessible, according to Meta.
However, the company emphasizes that this rollout is just the “first step” in its broader plan to expand AI capabilities across Europe. Over time, Meta aims to reach feature parity with the U.S., which likely signals future clashes with EU regulators, as Meta has been openly critical of Europe’s AI regulations.
Regulatory Scrutiny Continues
Following Meta’s announcement, TechCrunch reached out to the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) to gather its stance on the launch of Meta AI in the EU.
A DPC spokesperson responded:
“The DPC, as Lead Supervisory Authority for Meta, has been examining Meta AI over recent months with our colleague Supervisory Authorities across the EU/EEA, and we will keep it under review as it rolls out to users over the coming weeks.”
This statement suggests that while Meta AI has been allowed to launch, it will remain under close regulatory scrutiny as European watchdogs continue assessing its compliance with regional data protection laws.
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