The commission must be able to take decisions about mergers’ effects on competition in full knowledge of accurate facts.”<br />“The commission has confirmed that they did not impact the outcome of the merger review.”<br />The overall penalty amounted to a slap on the wrist — it pales in comparison with the tens of billions of dollars the company earns in online advertising every year,<br />and Europe’s antitrust officials stopped short of voiding the deal completely.<br />On Tuesday, French officials fined the social network €150,000 — another relatively small penalty — for failing to give the company’s users in<br />that country sufficient control over how their data is collected and used.<br />By MARK SCOTTMAY 18, 2017<br />Other European countries, notably Germany, are clamping down on social media companies, including issuing<br />potentially hefty penalties for failing to sufficiently police hate speech and misinformation.<br />“Today’s decision sends a clear signal to companies that they must comply with all aspects of E. U.<br />merger rules,” Ms. Vestager said in a statement.<br />That could allow it to gain an unfair advantage over rivals, by giving it access<br />to greater amounts of data to help support its online advertising business.
