Exactly. At the time of the acquisition it was already the "default" messaging service in many countries. The fact that the acquisition happened has more to d

Exactly. At the time of the acquisition it was already the "default" messaging service in many countries. The fact that the acquisition happened has more to do with regulators being asleep than Zuckerberg being awake. As far as I can recall, the EU regulators believed Facebook's lies about not being able to link WhatsApp and Facebook accounts, which Facebook promptly ignored a few years later. They were fined €110m ($134m) [0]. The maximum fine would have been $276m at the time. Still cheap IMO. This quote reads like a joke now: > Today’s decision sends a clear signal to companies that they must comply with all aspects of EU merger rules, including the obligation to provide correct information [0]: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/may/18/facebook-fined-eu-whatsapp-european-commission https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/may/18/facebook-fi...