viralamo

Menu
  • Technology
  • Science
  • Money
  • Culturs
  • Trending
  • Video

Subscribe To Our Website To Receive The Last Stories

Join Us Now For Free
Home
Technology
Regulator weighs action against Facebook over plans to integrate WhatsApp, Instagram, and Messenger
Technology

Regulator weighs action against Facebook over plans to integrate WhatsApp, Instagram, and Messenger

13/12/2019

(Reuters) — The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is considering asking a court to stop Facebook from moving ahead with plans to integrate its WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger subsidiaries, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Facebook shares closed 2.7% lower, reflecting fears the potential regulatory move could be a first step toward forcing the company to sell apps WhatsApp and Instagram, its fast-growing acquisitions.

Facebook has plans to allow users of its units Messenger, WhatsApp and the direct messaging system within Instagram to communicate with each other, and end-to-end encryption will be extended across the three services.

A source familiar with the matter said the FTC has not asked Facebook to halt the integration, a step that would normally precede a legal challenge. The Wall Street Journal said the FTC could file for an injunction to halt the integration as early as January.

Apart from antitrust concerns, Facebook and other tech giants are facing criticism over privacy lapses, how they handle vast quantities of consumer data, and accusations of bias in the polarized U.S. political environment.

Facebook and the FTC declined to comment.

Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg announced plans in March to integrate Facebook’s messaging services as part of a proposed shift toward more private forms of social networking.

Zuckerberg’s integration strategy reflects the importance of Instagram and WhatsApp as Facebook’s flagship app struggles to attract new young users in the company’s most lucrative markets.

Instagram ads drive much of Facebook’s revenue growth, while the company is slowly moving toward making money from WhatsApp, which has surged to a user base of 1.5 billion people since its $22 billion acquisition in 2014.

The properties are already integrated to some degree, with users able to link their accounts and advertisers able to use one system to place ads across different platforms.

Encrypting messaging systems will restrict Facebook’s ability to see the content of users’ messages, but the company has not divulged whether the integration plan may deepen other types of data sharing between the units.

Facebook, Alphabet Inc’s Google, Amazon.com Inc and Apple Inc all face antitrust investigations by the Justice Department and House of Representatives Judiciary Committee.

The FTC was also known to be investigating Facebook while groups of state attorneys general are looking at Facebook and Google.

U.S. Attorney General William Barr said on Tuesday he hoped to have Justice Department investigations of the big tech platforms completed next year.

Barr said the Justice Department review was not limited to antitrust, but that looking for anti-competitive behavior was “front and center.”

(Reporting by Ayanti Bera in Bengaluru, Katie Paul in California and Diane Bartz in Washington; Editing by Shailesh Kuber, Leslie Adler and Richard Chang)

Source link

Share
Tweet
Pinterest
Linkedin
Stumble
Google+
Email
Prev Article
Next Article

Related Articles

U.K. game studio Double Eleven expands to Malaysia
Game developer and publisher Double Eleven announced today that it …

U.K. game studio Double Eleven expands to Malaysia

Hackers stoke pandemonium amid Russia’s war in Ukraine
Elena Lacey | Getty Images On Thursday, hackers defaced a …

Hackers stoke pandemonium amid Russia’s war in Ukraine

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Find us on Facebook

Related Posts

  • Take-Two boss explains company’s plan to increase game output
    Take-Two boss explains company’s plan to increase …
    06/03/2020
  • If your VC firm can’t find talented Black founders, let me introduce you
    If your VC firm can’t find talented …
    30/07/2020
  • OpsRamp raises $37.5 million to apply AI to DevOps processes
    OpsRamp raises $37.5 million to apply AI …
    30/01/2020
  • Securiti.ai named most innovative startup at RSA
    Securiti.ai named most innovative startup at RSA
    26/02/2020
  • Fast & Furious: Crossroads lives video games a quarter-mile at a time
    Smartwatch shipments grew during the first quarter …
    07/05/2020

Popular Posts

  • Mega says it can’t decrypt your files. New POC exploit shows otherwise
    Mega says it can’t decrypt your files. …
    21/06/2022 0
  • 10 Most Common Mutations in Humans – …
    24/05/2022 0
  • 10 Signs You Might Have Already Been …
    24/05/2022 0
  • Digital driver’s license billed as harder than plastic to forge is easily forged
    Digital driver’s license billed as harder than …
    24/05/2022 0
  • Top 10 Horror Novels to Read This …
    25/05/2022 0

viralamo

Pages

  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
Copyright © 2022 viralamo
Theme by MyThemeShop.com

Ad Blocker Detected

Our website is made possible by displaying online advertisements to our visitors. Please consider supporting us by disabling your ad blocker.

Refresh