Facebook has to pay one of its largest fines– $ 122 million, to the European Union for misleading European regulators about its ability to identify users who had both Facebook and WhatsApp accounts during its 2014 acquisition of WhatsApp.
European regulators said during its 2014 acquisition of Whatsapp, Facebook notified the Commission that they would be unable to establish reliable automated matching between Facebook users’ and Whatsapp users’ accounts. However, in 2016 WhatsApp announced the possibility of linking WhatsApp users’ phone numbers with Facebook users’ identities, in an update to its Terms of Service and Privacy policy.
The European Commission added Facebook staff knew matching accounts was technically possible at the time of the WhatsApp acquisition review. The social networking company decided not to appeal this decision. In its defense Facebook maintains that the errors were ‘unintentional’ and were acted out in ‘good faith’, insisting that it did not affect the outcome of the acquisition.
The European Commission which handles the day-to-day operations of the European Union hopes that this fine will send a clear message to companies that they must comply with the EU merger regulations, including obligations to provide correct information or risk heavy fines.
Other large companies including Amazon, Google and Microsoft have been subject to antitrust investigations from the European Union regulators for violating EU regulations.
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May 23, 2025 at 4:22 pm
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