FB's plan to merge Insta, WhatsApp may make it harder to split: US FTC head
Last month, Facebook said it would pay a $5 billion fine to resolve a government probe into its privacy practices and boost safeguards on user data
International
News: Facebook Inc's plan to integrate Instagram and WhatsApp
more closely could hinder any attempts to break up the social media
giant, Federal Trade Commission Chairman Joseph Simons told the
Financial Times on Monday.
Simons said all options
were on the table as the FTC investigates Facebook for potential
antitrust violations, but added that any attempt from Mark Zuckerberg
to combine the social media company's three major brands could
complicate any case, according to the FT report.
"If they're
maintaining separate business structures and infrastructure, it's
much easier to have a divestiture in that circumstance than in where
they're completely enmeshed and all the eggs are scrambled,"
Simons told the FT.
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Facebook, Amazon decry French digital tax as 'discriminatory'
Facebook has been under
scrutiny from regulators around the world over data privacy practices
and how its subsidiaries WhatsApp and Instagram process personal
data.
Facebook bought Instagram
in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014, and each is now used by more than 1
billion people. Read
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