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EU watchdog accuses Facebook of misleading in Whatsapp takeover probe

Xinhua, December 21, 2016 Adjust font size:

The European Union (EU) regulators Tuesday accused U.S. IT giant Facebook of providing "misleading" information during its investigation on the company's acquisition of Whatsapp.

Brussels believed that Facebook could match its user accounts with Whatsapp's during the merger probe in 2014, but facebook then denied its capability, which made it go through the commission's merger investigation.

However, the European Commission, the bloc's executive arm, said it preliminarily viewed that Facebook misled it on this information two years ago. Consequently, Facebook risked a fine as high as 1 percent of its annual sales, which amount to multi-million euros.

"Companies are obliged to give the Commission accurate information during merger investigations. They must take this obligation seriously," Margrethe Vestager,the EU Commissioner in charge of competition,was quoted as saying in a statement.

The commission said Facebook's act could breach the EU laws and Facebook was asked to respond by the end of January in 2017.

In August 2014, Facebook notified Brussels its plans to acquire WhatsApp and gained approval in October 2014, the commission noted. Endit