The Europeans Commission charged Facebook to pay the European Union 1 percent of its annual sells. This after the social media giant provided "incorrect or misleading information" in seeking EU approval for the $19bn (€18.34bn) Facebook-WhatsApp deal. The Commission said Facebook's recent move to combine WhatsApp data with the social network breached assurances it had made when the deal was approved in 2014.
Everybody knows that how much popularized this two social media app nowadays. Some extraordinary features have been included in both apps and provided a new policy to the users. Facebook changes privacy and policy over Whatsapp that would allow to advertising on Facebook and Instagram.
WhatsApp update has features and privacy changed in August, allowing data including phone numbers and device information to be shared. The data can be used to target advertisers, fight spam and suggest friends.
Some users said that Facebook had not kept their promises to respect WhatsApp privacy. Regulators including the UK's Information Commissioner's Office said they would investigate.
EU Commissioner Margrethe Vestager also said that companies are obliged to give the Commission accurate information during merger investigations. They must take this obligation seriously.
Facebook said that "We provided accurate information about our technical issues and plans, and we confident that a full review of the facts will confirm Facebook has acted in good faith and respond on January 31st.
Facebook had claimed it was technically impossible to automatically match accounts in 2014. According to the social media giant, it has only gained this ability recently. But the EU's objections centered on its belief that this was not the case and that Facebook did know how to combine accounts.
The charged amount is around $170 million, which can ultimately lead to a fine of 1 percent of Facebook's global turnover. But the sanction does not threaten to revoke the approval of Facebook buying WhatsApp.
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