The European Commission has imposed Facebook NOK 1 billion in fines
The IT giant has provided misleading information regarding the takeover of WhatsApp. The European Commission has therefore decided to impose Facebook NOK 1 billion in fines, or €110,000,000 to be exact.
– Today’s decision sends a clear signal to companies that they must comply to all aspects of EU mergers, says EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager.
She accused Facebook in December last year of having misinformed the EU Commission when requesting permission to buy WhatsApp in 2014.
– The Commission’s preliminary opinion is that Facebook has provided us with incorrect or misleading information in connection with our inquiries regarding the takeover of WhatsApp, says Vestager.
Merging profiles, possible or not?
The case concerns the merger of user profiles on the two social services.
Facebook informed the EU Commission that it was not possible to establish a reliable, automated collocation. This the two companies still managed to achieve two years later.
The EU Commission believes that Facebook knew it would be possible to do so.
WhatsApp is a messenger service that Facebook bought for US $165 billion in 2014.
Wikipedia
Read more about Facebook and WhataApp on wikipedia.
© NTB Scanpix / Norway Today
