Facebook has proactively asked European antitrust regulators to review its $19 billion acquisition bid to avert any delays in the future, sources with direct knowledge of the matter have revealed to Reuters.
US Federal Trade Commissions (FTC) has already given a green signal to Facebook’s acquisition bid but the company is yet to receive an approval from any of the European countries and Facebook’s direct request for a review from Brussels seems to be its way of bypassing individual reviews and getting around the process quickly.
Europe wasn’t likely to review the acquisition bid, but telecom companies in the region have raised concerns that the acquisition will put Facebook and WhatsApp in a rather dominant position in the telecommunications market.
The SMS alternative from WhatsApp and Facebook have been one of the major revenue eroding factors and through the review telecom companies in the region will have a fair chance to arguing in favour or changes to the regulations around web-based messaging.
Facebook hasn’t commented on the matter, but one of the sources familiar with the matter revealed to The Wall Street Journal that Facebook has cited possible antitrust probes in the UK, Spain and Cyprus as one of the reasons for its proactive review request.
In its approval, US FTC has stated in a letter to both the companies that Facebook and WhatsApp should strictly adhere to its current privacy practices after the merger and should make a promise that WhatsApp users’ personal data will not be used by Facebook for targeted ads.
