Article 50 Guide for Agencies

AI chatbots on WhatsApp and Messenger: how to show the Article 50 disclosure

Last reviewed 24 October 2026

Short answer. A messaging app gives you no banner or widget header, so the disclosure has to be in the conversation itself. Put it in the first message the AI sends in each conversation ("You're chatting with [Brand]'s AI assistant..."), before or with its first answer. When a conversation starts from a template the business sends, say so at the first AI reply. WhatsApp's Business Messaging Policy separately requires a clear path to a person when you automate replies.

Why messaging apps need a different approach

On a website, the chat widget has a header, a launcher button and a welcome panel where "AI assistant" can sit before anyone types. In WhatsApp or Messenger, the customer sees your business name and a message thread like any other. There is nowhere to put a label except the messages themselves.

Article 50(1) of the AI Act requires an AI system that interacts directly with people to be designed so they are informed they are interacting with an AI, unless that is obvious from the context. Article 50(5) says the information has to be clear and distinguishable and given at the latest at the first interaction. A customer messaging a shop on WhatsApp will often expect a person, so "obvious from the context" rarely applies. The duty sits with the provider of the chatbot system: whoever builds it, or has it built and supplies it under their own name (see the white-label guide).

Where the disclosure goes

Customer starts the chat. Make the AI's first reply in each conversation open with the disclosure:

"Hi, you're chatting with Brightline's AI assistant. It can answer questions about orders, delivery and returns. Type 'agent' at any time to reach a person."

Keep it at the top of the message, not after the answer. On a phone lock screen and in the chat list, only the first line or two shows.

Business starts the chat with a template. On the WhatsApp Business Platform, a business can only start a conversation, or write after the 24-hour customer service window has closed, with an approved Message Template. If a person or a fixed template sends that first message and the AI only replies once the customer answers, put the disclosure in the AI's first reply. If an AI writes or picks the template's content, put it in the template.

Returning customers. "At the latest at the first interaction" is about the first interaction, but a thread can sit unused for weeks. Showing the disclosure again at the start of each new conversation (for example, after 24 hours of silence) costs nothing and avoids an argument about whether someone remembered.

Business profile. Add a line to the WhatsApp business profile or Messenger page "About" text, such as "Our chat replies are answered by an AI assistant, with staff available." It helps, but people rarely open the profile, so it does not replace the in-thread message.

Display name. A name like "Brightline Support" says nothing about AI. Adding "AI" to a display name may need the platform's approval and still sits outside the conversation, so treat it as extra, not as the disclosure.

Handover to a person

When the bot hands the chat to staff, say so in the thread: "You're now chatting with Sam from our support team." It tells the customer the AI has stopped answering, and it avoids the opposite problem of staff replies being mistaken for the bot's.

WhatsApp requires an escalation route anyway. Its Business Messaging Policy says businesses may use automation when responding during the 24-hour window, but "must also have available prompt, clear, and direct escalation paths", such as transfer to a human agent in the chat, a phone number, an email address or a support form. A disclosure message that also says how to reach a person meets both needs in one line.

WhatsApp's limit on AI assistants

Separately from the AI Act, Meta changed the WhatsApp Business Solution terms so that AI providers cannot use the platform to distribute general-purpose AI assistants where the assistant is the main product. It was reported to apply to new users from 15 October 2025 and to existing users from 15 January 2026. Meta told TechCrunch, as reported, that the change does not affect businesses using AI for customer service, such as support, bookings and order tracking. A support bot for your own customers is the allowed case. Check the current Business Solution terms if your bot answers open-ended questions beyond your business.

A disclosure that also covers the GDPR

A WhatsApp or Messenger bot processes personal data, so a short privacy pointer fits in the same first message:

"You're chatting with Brightline's AI assistant. Type 'agent' for a person. How we use your messages: brightline.example/privacy"

The Article 50 and GDPR guide covers the rest of what the GDPR needs, including the processing agreement with your messaging platform provider.

Setup check for a messaging bot

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