Facebook Seek Antitrust Review Over WhatsApp Acquisition
- Tuesday, May 27th, 2014
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Facebook has approached the European Commission, the EUs antitrust regulators, to review the $19bn (£11.4bn) deal in an effort to avoid multiple antitrust probes in different European countries, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.
The European Commission has already informed national competition authorities about the request. This comes while Facebook, along with multiple other US companies, faces tax investigations in France.
Facebooks deal with WhatsApp was the largest startup acquisition in recent years, surpassing its 2012 purchase of Instagram for $1bn and the $8.5bn Microsoft paid for Skype in 2011. 
The deal was cleared last month in the US by the Federal Trade Commission. The FTCs Bureau of Consumer Protection warned both companies that WhatsApp must adhere to its current privacy practices following the merger, including a promise that WhatsApp users personal data will not be used for targeted ads.
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