Facebook Acquisition Review Shows EU’s New Antitrust Power

The European Commission aims to use its new authority to review Facebook’s proposed takeover of Kustomer, a startup specializing in customer-service platforms and chatbots. With a new interpretation of an old law, European Union competition regulators have given themselves sweeping authority to review merger cases that previously would have escaped their notice, sparking outcry from companies and their lawyers that the change will cause confusion in deal-making. Margrethe Vestager, the commission’s antitrust chief, said it is necessary to let her team assess and potentially block dominant companies from buying up smaller players to eliminate would-be rivals. Lawyers experienced in EU competition law say the new approach and the commission’s explanation of it leave many unanswered questions, including about jurisdiction between member states and Brussels, over timing of merger reviews and whether all deals must be notified to EU authorities. Commission officials have rejected such accusations, arguing any legal uncertainty always existed. They have pledged to use the new approach selectively, making it preferable to a proposed alternative of lowering the revenue threshold for deal review, which would have indiscriminately snared far more companies.