Facebook fined $122 million for misleading EU over WhatsApp deal

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Facebook has been smacked with a a110 million fine by the antitrust wing of the European Commission for providing incorrect or misleading information about its acquisition of WhatsApp.

Three years ago, Facebook claimed that it did not have the technical capabilities to match existing Facebook accounts with the WhatsApp accounts it would acquire-a claim that Brussels' competition chief Margrethe Vestager strongly disagrees with.

"The commission has found that... 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 commission said on Thursday.

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