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EU: Vestager is analyzing Facebook’s reply to WhatsApp probe

By  |  March 22, 2017

EU antitrust chief, Margrethe Vestager, said on Wednesday she was reviewing Facebook’s response to charges the US social network provided misleading information during its bid for messaging service WhatsApp. It is thought that this probe could result in a hefty fine for the company.

In December of last year The European Commission said Facebook’s statements during the regulator’s scrutiny of the $22 billion deal in 2014 were incorrect when it said that it was unable reliably to match the two companies’ user accounts.

This was technically possible at that time, the EU Competition Commissioner said, giving Facebook until Jan. 31 to defend itself.

“We have now got the reply from Facebook and we are now analysing it,” Vestager told lawmakers during a European Parliament hearing.

The company faces a fine of as much as 1 percent of its global turnover, or about $179 million based on 2015 revenues.

Full Content: Fortune

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