FTC Could Block Facebook’s Plans to Integrate Instagram and WhatsApp
Earlier this year, Facebook announced a major privacy-focused transformation that would involve the company bringing all of its major social networks together. The multi-year long plan would involve the social network giant unifying the infrastructure behind Instagram, WhatsApp, and Facebook.
The integration would allow Facebook to unify all three of its social networks, allowing people to communicate with each other across all the different apps.
As it turns out, though, Facebook may face some legal problems. New York Times is reporting that the FTC is weighing an injunction against Facebook to stop the integration from happening. The commission fears the integration could make it harder to break up Facebook in the future.
Facebook is already being investigated by the FTC over antitrust concerns, and if Facebook is found to be anti-competitive in the market, breaking up the company could potentially be an option. That would already be quite difficult and “uncommon” to do as the FTC would have to undo the mergers of Instagram and WhatsApp that have already been closed years ago.
And if Facebook is to integrate the infrastructure behind the three apps, breaking up the company in the future would make things even more complex. FTC is yet to make a final decision about the injunction, but there are a ton of legalities involved here, and it could still affect the FTC’s ongoing investigation against Facebook.