Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) has been fined €110 million (£94 million) by the EU after they found it had been misleading about its 2014 Whatsapp takeover.
The social media giant told the EU that in its takeover of messaging app Whatsapp, they would not be able to match user accounts on both platforms but went on to carry out exactly that, linking Whatsapp numbers to Facebook users’.
“The errors we made in our 2014 filings were not intentional,” said Facebook in a statement. “The commission has confirmed that they did not impact the outcome of the merger review.”
The Commission said: “The Commission has found that, contrary to Facebook’s statements in the 2014 merger review process, the technical possibility of automatically matching Facebook and WhatsApp users’ identities already existed in 2014, and that Facebook staff were aware of such a possibility,”
The EU Commission was able to fine the group up to one percent of the annual turnover, however, they Commission said they took into account Facebook’s cooperation during the inquiry. Should they have chosen to fine the social media giant one percent of their annual takeover, the fine would have totalled $276 million (£211 million).
EU competition commissioner, Margrethe Vestager said: “Today’s decision sends a clear signal to companies that they must comply with all aspects of EU merger rules, including the obligation to provide correct information,’”
“It imposes a proportionate and deterrent fine on Facebook. The commission must be able to take decisions about mergers’ effects on competition in full knowledge of accurate facts.” she added.
The social media group was also fined earlier this week by a French data watchdog for failing to prevent users’ data being accessed by advertisers. It was fined a total of €150,000.
Whilst both fines might be a drop in the ocean for the social media site, it shows that European officials are increasing their scrutiny of the group.