Policy Observatory
EU approves Facebook's takeover of WhatsApp
Fri 3 Oct 2014, 20:40
The EU's competition authorities on Friday gave social media site Facebook the green light to complete its €15bn takeover of mobile messaging startup WhatsApp.
EU fines Facebook 110 million euros over WhatsApp deal
Fri 19 May 2017, 23:31
European Union antitrust regulators fined Facebook 110 million euros ($122 million) on Thursday for giving misleading information during a vetting of its deal to acquire messaging service WhatsApp in 2014.
Calling it a "proportionate and deterrent fine", the European Commission, which acts as the EU's competition watchdog, said Facebook had said it could not automatically match user accounts on its namesake platform and WhatsApp but two years later launched a service that did exactly that.