WEB Facebook has until 31 January 2017 to address the “fears” of Brussels…
Facebook could be fined several million euros by the european Commission, who was accused on Tuesday of having provided him with “misleading information” during its investigation in 2014, the buyout of the messaging service WhatsApp.
This procedure will have “no impact” on the green light given to the operation, finally reached to 22 billion dollars, has, however, said the Commission, which has sent a “statement of objections” – a sort of indictment in the eu jargon — to the american company.
” Of inaccurate or misleading information “
Facebook has until 31 January 2017 to address the “fears” of Brussels. If these were confirmed, the Commission could impose a fine of up to 1 % of its turnover, which amounted to $ 17.9 billion in 2015.
” at this stage, the Commission is concerned (…) that Facebook has provided, wilfully or negligently, incorrect or misleading information, ” said the european executive, the guardian of competition in the EU, in its press release.
Facebook had provided during the investigation conducted by Brussels in 2014, the buyout of WhatsApp ” that she would not be able to associate reliably and automatically to the user accounts of the two companies “, information which the Commission says have “taken into account” to authorize the operation.
An amendment to the privacy policy of WhatsApp
But in August 2016, the californian company has changed the privacy policy of WhatsApp, allowing data collected on this application can be used to offer targeted advertising on other applications in the group as Facebook ouInstagram.
The Commission had already begun as early as the month of September discussions with Facebook, which had temporarily stopped, in November, the sharing of information with WhatsApp in Europe.
In its statement, the Commission concluded Tuesday that ” the technical possibility to automatically associate the user identifiers of Facebook to the identifiers of users of WhatsApp already existed in 2014 “.
Brussels considers “particularly important” to be able to ” rely upon the accuracy and completeness of the information provided, regardless of whether they have an impact on the outcome of the assessment of the case “.
Facebook claims to have ” acted in good faith “
A spokesman for the american group was said to have ” a good hope that a full examination of the facts will confirm that Facebook has acted in good faith “. “We have consistently provided accurate information about our plans and our technical capabilities “, he added.
The sharing of data with WhatsApp had been to Facebook’s many critics in Europe, including the group article 29 working party, which brings together the national authorities of data protection in different member States of the EU (including the Cnil in france).
A buyout of WhatsApp disputed
The purchase of WhatsApp had also been challenged at the time by advocacy groups, the private life, which feared misuse of personal data of users.
” this investigation has nothing to do (…) with the related issues of privacy, data or consumer, has, however, insisted the Commission.
Facebook joins Apple, Google, Amazon and Microsoft among the american giants of the technology to be concerned with a survey of Brussels.
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