The EU accuses Facebook of cheating in the purchase of WhatsApp

The company then said that "it had no capacity to automatically associate the user accounts of both platforms", which it did in August 2016, explains the Commission

  The European Commission believes that Facebook offered "misleading information" during the investigation carried out in 2014 on the purchase of the WhatsApp messaging service and could fine the company, it announced on Tuesday. At the time, Mark Zuckerberg's company stated that "it had no capacity to automatically associate (...) the user accounts of both platforms", which it did in August 2016, explains the Commission.

  The opening of a new investigation will not have "impact" on the green light agreed to the operation of 2014, nevertheless needs Brussels. "At this point, the Commission fears that Facebook has contributed, deliberately or through negligence, inaccurate or misleading information," he adds. Facebook has until January 31, 2017 to respond to the "fears" of Brussels.

If the deception is confirmed, the Commission could inflict a fine of up to 1% of its turnover, which in 2015 was $ 17.9 billion. "This investigation has nothing to do either with the related issues of protection of privacy, data or consumers," he adds. In October 2014, Brussels had given its approval to the purchase of WhatsApp by Facebook, an operation of 22,000 million dollars.