Theeuropean commission accusation Facebook you have been lied to, precisely, "having provided inaccurate or misleading information" in the 2014, in the course of the evaluation of the same Eu Commission on the acquisition of Whatsapp. The company Mark Zuckerberg had declared not to have the technical possibility to automatically connect its users with those of Whatsapp. The automatic connection between the account party is inAugust 2016, when Facebook has updated the terms of use and privacy. The european Antitrust, however, suspect that the technical possibility was there already in 2014. The social network has until January 31st to meet in Brussels and is likely to receive a fine equal to1% of its global revenue.
The european Commission considers on a preliminary basis that "Facebook, intentionally or by negligence, has provided incorrect information or misleading information to the Commission, in breach of its obligations arising from the regulation Union mergers". "The companies are obliged to give accurate information during investigations on the mergers and must take this obligation seriously," warned the commissioner of the competition Margrethe Vestager. "Our audit timely and effective of the mergers depends on the accuracy of the information provided by the companies involved, – he concluded – now Facebook has the opportunity to respond". The ongoing investigation is limited, however, to the evaluation of the possible violation of the rules in force and will not have an impact on the free way because at the time thecapture of Whatsapp. And it has nothing to do, it also specifies the Eu Commission with issues relating to privacy, data protection or consumer.
In a post on his official blog Facebook has tried to throw water on the fire: "we Respect the process initiated by the Commission and we are a confident that from the complete analysis of the facts will confirm that we have acted
in good faith. We have consistently provided accurate information on our technical capabilities and our plans, including requests about the acquisition of WhatsApp, and briefing pro-active, sent in a voluntary way before the introduction of theupdate of the privacy policy of WhatsApp this year". "We are pleased that the Commission will confirm its decision of authorisation of the operation – explains still Facebook – we will continue to collaborate and to share information with the officials to answer their questions".