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EU: Facebook to face fine over WhatsApp deal

By  |  May 17, 2017

Facebook may be fined as soon as Thursday by the European Union for misleading regulators during a 2014 review of the WhatsApp messaging service takeover, a person familiar with the situation said.

The European Commission won’t overturn approval for the $22 billion purchase, according to the person, who asked not to be identified because the penalty hasn’t been publicly announced.

EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager targeted Facebook after it announced privacy policy changes in August that would allow the advertising platforms on Facebook and Instagram to draw upon data from WhatsApp. The company informed the EU in 2014 it couldn’t combine WhatsApp data with its other services — but moved to do that last year.

Full Content: Reuters

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