Facebook seeks EU antitrust review of WhatsApp deal - source
Reuters
May 28, 2014, 9:00 pm
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks during a news conference at Facebook headquarters in Palo Alto, California May 26, 2010. REUTERS/Robert Galbraith
(Reuters) - Social network Facebook has asked European Union antitrust regulators to examine its $19 billion takeover of mobile messaging service WhatsApp, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said on Wednesday.
Companies, which need approvals for mergers from several national regulators in Europe, typically prefer to take their case to the European Commission to avoid the hassle of multiple reviews.
The deal was cleared in the United States last month by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
The FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, in a letter to the two companies on April 10, said WhatsApp must adhere to its current privacy practices after the merger, including a promise not to use WhatsApp users' personal data for targeted ads.
Facebook was not immediately available for comment, while a European Commission spokeswoman declined to comment.
(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee and Arnab Sen; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)
