BulletinsFebruary 6, 2020
Facebook holding out on giving EU antitrust investigators documents.
Company lawyers "pushed back" against a request for documents from the EU, The Wall Street Journal reports.
They argued the request was too broad and could reveal personal information. The Journal says the EU's now issuing a narrower request and can fine Facebook if it doesn't comply.
- The requests come as part of the EU's investigation into whether Facebook violated antitrust laws. According to The Journal, the bloc's specifically looking at whether Facebook let some partners access user data but not others.
- It's reportedly also looking at Facebook's use of Onavo, the VPN app Facebook allegedly used to spot fast-growing competitors such as WhatsApp.
- If found guilty, the EU could fine Facebook up to 10% of its global annual revenue — revenue that was almost $71 billion last year.
- Facebook's associate general counsel, Timothy Lamb, told The Journal: "We are committed to cooperating with regulators." The newspaper reports that CEO Mark Zuckerberg is set to visit Brussels, where he may meet the EU commissioner for competition, Margrethe Vestager.