On Nov. 1, @tczollie wrote that Instinct was “its down for me too in whatsapp.” In another post addressed to Instinct, a person wrote that its WhatsApp integration “seems to be down. At least for me….” These are individual accounts, not a measure of how widely the integration was affected.
@tczollie also wrote that they were chatting with Instinct through a Google Doc and that it “told me its a payment issue.” In a separate reply, @itspsneha referred to “some instinct whatsapp billing issue” and said Instinct could be used on iMessage. Neither post establishes the cause of the WhatsApp trouble.
A separate post suggested Instinct had hit a wall with WhatsApp and claimed some users had reported banned WhatsApp accounts. @danshipper quote-posted it, calling the situation “anti competitive and not cool.” The account-ban claim did not include a firsthand ban notice, and @danshipper’s reaction does not show that Meta blocked Instinct.
The dispute over rival chatbots’ WhatsApp access predates these complaints. In a June 9 report, Reuters journalist Foo Yun Chee wrote that EU regulators ordered Meta to restore rivals’ access to the WhatsApp for Business API on pre-October terms within five working days while an antitrust investigation continued. Meta called the interim order regulatory overreach and said it would appeal. That June order does not explain the November reports.
