European Union (EU) antitrust regulators have extended the deadline for a decision on Facebook’s acquisition of U.S. customer service startup, Kustomer, by a week to Dec. 15, 2021.
A European Commission filing on Monday, indicated that the EU executive, which acts as the competition enforcer for the 27-country bloc, opened a full-scale investigation into the deal earlier this month, based on its strong feeling that the deal may hurt competition and reinforce Facebook’s power in online advertising.
On its own, Facebook has said it would cooperate fully with the Commission’s review.
The Commission stated it had extended the deadline following Facebook’s request for more time to prepare its response to the issues raised by the commission on the deal.
According to online news reports, such extensions are common during the summer holiday season when it is usually difficult to find customers and rivals able to respond to queries about the market.
Also, the UK competition agency is also investigating the deal while its German counterpart is now checking to see if Facebook should also seek its approval.
