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EUROPEAN UNION ANTITRUST officials have started questioning rival firms about Facebook’s purchase of WhatsApp for $19 billion.
Questionnaires have been sent to a number of major technology and online messaging companies, asking about the merger’s impact on the competition and their markets, The Wall Street Journal reports.
The process, which deals with how firms control and user personal data when they offer services, comes before a formal merger review that will provide the first in-depth looks at the app economy and social media through competition law.
The EU wasn’t originally going to review Facebook’s WhatsApp deal since the app didn’t have sufficient revenue in the region to trigger its merger law. However, Facebook used a provision of the EU law to ask for the commission to conduct a single review that would cover the 28 nations in May, instead of facing separate ones in three or more EU countries.
That provision allowed the EU to begin reviewing the deal last month. The telecoms industry in Europe have been lobbying against the merger, arguing that services like WhatsApp use their infrastructure, but aren’t taxed or regulated in the same way.
Personal data and privacy haven’t played a major role in competition reviews, but some regulators and privacy advocates have said this is likely to change, according to the Wall Street Journal.
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Once it’s still free who cares!!!
Train rides to the NAZI Concentration camps were also free…
People need to wake up about this sort of stuff…
http://www.veteranstoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/dd395-NSA-site.jpg
“Train rides to Nazi camps”….That’s the example you went with?!?
@Frank take your meds lad. You make me look normal.
Well the History books are certainly repeating themselves….
Adolph Hitler would have given his right arm for the digital surveillance technology of today….The ability to spy and pin point every almost every individual in the Western world.
That’s some impressive reaching Frank
# Make sure that your electronic device is charged up before boarding a plane to the United States.
The telecoms industry are spoofers. Claiming that they are not paid to use their infrastructure for messaging. The consumer pays to use their network and transfer data across it within our defined monthly limits. They are angling to charge twice to transfer the same data. This will only lead to higher prices for everyone if they are allowed.
Since they took it over the service is not as good. Its a lot slower and down a lot.
A company that is bought for 19 billion and doesnt earn a cent and never will means one thing the tech bubble all over again.
If the product is free, you’re the product.
450 million users – 72% of whom use it every day. $.99 after year one to subscribe equals $450 million a year….treble charge to $3 equals $1.3 billion annually. Treble their subscribers (easy if you use the worlds largest social network to spread the word) equals almost $4 billion annually….and we haven’t go to the valuable mobile data, and potential payment solution integrations. All paid for in part with IPO cash…..these are not stupid people.
have your say