Brussels has accused Facebook of misleading officials before they approved its takeover of WhatsApp in 2014.
The social network could be fined up to 1 per cent of global revenue if the allegations set out by the European Commission yesterday are proved.
The charges against are the latest levelled by Brussels against American tech companies. Apple launched its fight this week against a demand to repay $14 billion in back taxes, while Google is fighting two market abuse cases.
The commission said that it would stick to its decision to clear Facebook’s merger with WhatsApp because its assessment was based on several factors.
Facebook informed the commission two years ago that it wanted to buy WhatsApp for $22 billion. Commissioners cleared the deal later that year, saying that WhatsApp was not a close competitor to Facebook Messenger.
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At the time, commissioners asked Facebook whether it would be able to match its users’ accounts with WhatsApp’s users’ accounts. Facebook said that would not be possible.
The commission’s allegations, set out in a statement of objections, stem from a policy change announced by WhatsApp in August this year. The company said that it was now possible to link phone numbers from WhatsApp with Facebook. The announcement sparked investigations by data protection groups in Europe.
The commission said that “contrary to Facebook’s statements and reply during the merger review, the technical possibility of automatically matching Facebook users’ IDs with WhatsApp users’ IDs already existed in 2014. At this stage, the commission has concerns that Facebook intentionally, or negligently, submitted incorrect or misleading information to the commission, in breach of its obligations.”
Margrethe Vestager, the competition commissioner, said: “Companies are obliged to give the commission accurate information during merger investigations”.
A spokeswoman for Facebook said: “We respect the commission’s process and are confident that a full review of the facts will confirm Facebook has acted in good faith.”
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Facebook has until the end of January to respond formally to the allegations.