The Social media giant ‘Facebook’ might face some trouble regarding the data sharing policy provided during it’s acquisition of the messaging company- Whatsapp in 2014.
According to the European commission (EU) Facebook has breached it’s obligation under the EU Merger Regulation by providing misleading information “intentionally or negligently” Good news is that these objections sent to Facebook will not affect the already approved $22 billion merger earlier.
What triggered the investigation by the EU data protection authorities is when in August WhatsApp changed it’s privacy policy stating that it will share some user’s phone numbers with the parent company- Facebook. The UK’s information commissioner Elizabeth Denham
also said last month that she has opened investigation against WhatsApp where the commission is concerned about the users not being informed enough and there is no clarity on what Facebook plan to do with the information.
On the other hand a spokesperson from Facebook said “We respect the Commission’s process and are confident that a full review of the facts will confirm Facebook has acted in good faith”. She also added “We’ve consistently provided accurate information about our technical capabilities and plans, including in submissions about the WhatsApp acquisition and in voluntary briefings before WhatsApp’s privacy policy update this year”. According to her the company informed the commission about the changes in the month of January and for other concerns from EU Facebook has stopped sharing WhatsApp user’s data with Facebook.
Facebook had indicated in its notification of the planned acquisition that it would be unable reliably to match the two companies’ user accounts. Facebook has time 31st January to respond to all the objection. The commission can impose the company a fine of 1 per cent of turnover or about $179 million based on 2015 revenues, if the concerns are confirmed. Companies do have an option to appeal in the European Court of Justice, which has revered the fines in the past.