Contact Your Financial Adviser Money Making MC
18 May 2017
The
European Union (EU) on Thursday announced it will fine Facebook 110 million
euros ($122 million) for providing incorrect or misleading information in
connection with the 2014 purchase of mobile messaging service WhatsApp. The Total Investment & Insurance
Solutions
At the
time of the acquisition, Facebook told European Commission (EC) competition
monitors that it was not technically possible to automatically link WhatsApp
user data with Facebook profiles but this later transpired to be incorrect
information that Facebook staff had knowingly handed over, Efe news reported. The Total Investment & Insurance
Solutions
"Today's
decision sends a clear signal to companies that they must comply with all
aspects of EU merger rules, including the obligation to provide correct
information," European Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, in charge of
competition policy, said in a statement.
"And
it imposes a proportionate and deterrent fine on Facebook. The Commission must
be able to take decisions about mergers' effects on competition in full
knowledge of accurate facts," she said.
In
order to review mergers efficiently and in a timely manner, the EC said,
companies were obliged to provide accurate information. The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions
During
the $19 billion takeover of WhatsApp in 2014, Facebook staff told the EC, both
in an official form and in response to an information request, that it would
not be able to match WhatsApp and Facebook user identities. The Total Investment & Insurance
Solutions
However
in 2016, WhatsApp updated its terms of use, implementing changes with the
possibility of linking profiles, prompting the EC to lodge a statement of
objections in December of that year.
The
Commissioners found that not only was it technically possible to fuse user
profiles in 2014, but that Facebook staff had been aware of this at the time. The Total Investment & Insurance
Solutions
According
to EU merger regulation, the EC can impose a fine totalling 1 per cent of a
company's aggregated turnover if it has provided misleading or incorrect
information.
A
Facebook spokesperson said: "The errors we made in our 2014 filings were
not intentional and the Commission has confirmed that they did not impact the
outcome of the merger review. Today's announcement brings the matter to a
close".The Total Investment &
Insurance Solutions
No comments:
Post a Comment