Meta AI in Germany: what works in WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook

What Meta AI is and where to find it

Meta AI is the AI assistant from Meta, the company behind Facebook. You can ask it questions, have things explained or ask for ideas, similar to ChatGPT. Since March 2025 Meta has been rolling the assistant out in 41 European countries, including Germany. It started with a chat function in six European languages, and it can also draw on information from the web.

You find Meta AI in WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook and Messenger behind a small blue circle. In group chats you can bring it in with @MetaAI; Meta introduced this on WhatsApp first.

According to the Verbraucherzentrale, Meta AI cannot be switched off in the apps. You do not have to use it, though: as long as you do not tap the blue circle, you are not having a conversation with the assistant. That does not, however, stop Meta from using your public Facebook and Instagram content for AI training; more on that below.

The Meta AI app and images

Since 6 November 2025 there has also been a standalone Meta AI app in Europe. According to Meta, you can chat there, create and animate images from a description, edit photos and manage Meta's AI glasses. New was the Vibes section, a feed of short AI-generated videos that you can create yourself or remix.

According to the App Store description, Meta AI can also be used on the meta.ai website and with Meta's AI glasses. What the glasses can do in Germany is covered in a separate article on Ray-Ban Meta in Germany.

What it costs

For normal use, Meta AI is free. According to Meta, that will not change with the new Meta One subscription, which Meta introduced on 15 September 2026.

Meta One bundles extras for Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp. According to Meta, the Core and Premium plans also allow more image and video creation with Meta AI. Meta only gives dollar prices, 7.99 dollars a month for Core and 19.99 dollars for Premium, and says plans, prices and availability may vary by region. We did not find an official euro price for Germany.

Your data: AI training and objecting

Since 27 May 2025, Meta has used public content from adults on Facebook and Instagram in the EU, such as public posts, photos and comments, to train its AI. The consumer advice centre of North Rhine-Westphalia tried to stop this in urgent proceedings. The Higher Regional Court of Cologne rejected that on 23 May 2025 in urgent proceedings, after only a provisional review. According to the ruling, Meta may use publicly posted content unless users have objected. According to the court, anyone who sets their content to non-public or objects can prevent this use.

You can still object, using forms from Facebook and Instagram. According to the Verbraucherzentrale, this only works for the future: what has already gone into training cannot be taken back. Content that others post publicly about you can still be used.

For WhatsApp, Meta stated in June 2025, according to the Verbraucherzentrale, that conversations with Meta AI there are not used for training. The Verbraucherzentrale warns, however, that messages to Meta AI are not end-to-end encrypted and could be used for training. According to CORRECTIV, the Federal Data Protection Commissioner confirmed in June 2026 that, to her knowledge, such conversations are currently not used for training. Whether that is still the case today is unclear. An objection form for WhatsApp already exists. With advanced chat privacy you can also prevent Meta AI from being used in individual WhatsApp chats.

In many countries, Meta has used conversations with Meta AI to personalise ads and content since 16 December 2025. According to Reuters, the EU was excluded at launch. We could not reliably establish whether that still applies in October 2026.

Age limits

According to Meta's AI terms for the EU, you may use Meta AI from age 13, or from a higher age if your country requires it. The Verbraucherzentrale adds that teenagers under 18 need their parents' permission under the terms of use. Meta's EU AI terms do not say this explicitly, so whether it applies is unclear. According to the Verbraucherzentrale, age is usually not checked anyway.

On 23 January 2026, Meta announced that it would temporarily block teenagers worldwide from its AI characters in order to build a new version. According to Meta, the block was to start in the following weeks; exactly when it took effect is not confirmed. For the general assistant, Meta says it has been trained to respond to teens in an age-appropriate way. Parents should still know that the blue circle also shows up in their children's apps.