[ProAm]

Makes sense I should have been more clear (also why I said I wasnt trying to be snarky because I could easily read my first comment as such). I think at the time this sale happened any messaging service could have been sold to any company without government stoppage. The anti competitive guidelines are as such:

    - agreements between competitors, also referred to as horizontal conduct  
  
   - monopolization, also referred to as single firm conduct 

I think this sale would still go through today as for FB still has messenger and Whatsapp as separate products and (arguably) still free. I havent thought about it Apple purchased it. I think that still may have gone through too unless they stopped the app working on Android.

[nicoburns]

I agree with you that the sale doesn't come under current anti-trust laws. My position is that there ought be broader market health protections that allow for intervention in cases such as these on the basis that the reduced competition is detrimental to society / consumers even though it doesn't constitute a monopoly and may not be intentionally anti-competitive.