UK’s Office of Fair Trading to investigate Facebook’s Instagram buyout

The UK’s Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is launching an investigation into Facebook’s billion dollar purchase of Instagram citing fair competition concerns, The Guardian reports. The OFT is looking into whether Facebook’s buyout of Instagram may result in the photo app being restricted from uploading photos to other sites, apps, or services, but must first determine whether or not the deal falls under the office’s jurisdiction. Facebook must release its UK revenues and its share of the UK photo upload market before the OFT can determine if the deal would form a company large enough to be evaluated according to the 2002 Enterprise Act.

Facebook stated that it will “continue to work closely with the OFT and look forward to answering any questions that arise,” and after the company releases the necessary information, the OFT can then investigate and decide if the merger will have any harmful effects on competition. This probe follows the US Federal Trade Commission’s investigation of the deal, which shares the OFT’s concerns and is currently ongoing.