Facebook Inc made an acquisition late last year of the customer service startup Kustomer.
The acquisition, value at $1 billion, may be subjected to European Union antitrust scrutiny after Austria asked EU enforcers to take over the task, the European Commission said on Tuesday.
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The move comes at a time when EU competition regulators are vetting more technology, pharmaceutical and biotechnological startup deals in an effort to send warning signals to tech giants who make, what are known as killer acquisitions, where they buy their smaller rivals intending to shut them down.
The social network announced the deal in November, which could help it to scale up its competitor, instant messaging app WhatsApp, which has seen usage jumped during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Facebook sought approval for the deal from the Austrian competition agency on March 31.
“We can confirm that we have received a request for referral from Austria,” a Commission spokeswoman said, “Following the expiry of the deadline for the other Member States to join the referral, the Commission will have 10 working days to decide whether to accept or reject the referral.”
National watchdogs have 15 working days to inform the EU competition enforcer whether they too want it to review the deal.
Facebook, in its statement, said that the deal would bring more innovation to businesses and consumers in a dynamic and competitive space.