On April 23, 2026, CADE’s Tribunal unanimously confirmed the non-compliance with the preventive measure imposed by the General Superintendence in the controversy over the new terms of WhatsApp Business. Previously, when judging a Voluntary Appeal, the Tribunal had already ratified the preventive measure, which determined the suspension of the terms that excluded artificial intelligence chatbotproviders from the platform. At the time, the Tribunal highlighted that compliance with the measure was not limited to refraining from applying the new terms: it was essential to ensure that the excluded chatbots could resume their activities “in the way they had been doing at the time of the decision on the Preventive Measure“.
The controversy over non-compliance has focused on the achievement of the status quo ante. After the confirmation of the preventive measure, WhatsApp Business changed its terms, reclassifying AI chatbots in the “Marketing” category and charging around $0.06 per message sent to users in Brazil. For the companies, the change would represent legitimate compliance with the decision, by reestablishing access to the platform, even under new commercial conditions. The General Superintendence, however, understood that the charge created a mechanism with exclusionary effects equivalent to those of the suspended conduct.
CADE’s Tribunal followed this understanding and rejected the challenge filed by WhatsApp, determining: (i) the continuation of the daily fine of BRL 250 thousand until the effective compliance with the preventive measure; (ii) the forwarding of the case records to the Federal Prosecutor’s Office for judicial execution; and (iii) international cooperation with other jurisdictions investigating the same conduct.
The decision signals CADE’s strict stance regarding the effectiveness of preventive measures and reinforces that formal or commercial rearrangements cannot empty the material content of the orders issued, especially in digital markets, marked by rapid and intense transformations.
On April 29, 2026, however, the Federal Court of São Paulo granted a favourable decision to WhatsApp and suspended the daily fine of BRL 250 thousand imposed by CADE, which remains suspended on this date (May 4, 2026).
