FTC clears Facebook's proposed acquisition of Instagram

The US Federal Trade Commission has closed its investigation into Facebook's proposed USD 1 billion acquisition of popular smartphone photo sharing application 'Instagram', without taking any action.

The US regulator, in a statement late last night, said Facebook's bid to buy Instagram "may now proceed as proposed".

In the closing letter to the counsel for Facebook and Instagram, FTC said: "It now appears that no further action is warranted by the Commission at this time. Accordingly, the investigation has been closed".

As per the letters published on FTC website: "This action is not to be construed as a determination that a violation may not have occurred, just as the pendency of an investigation should not be construed as a determination that a violation has occurred".

The Commission reserves the right to take such further action as the public interest may require, it added.

While announcing the deal, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg had called the proposed acquisition "an important milestone for Facebook because it's the first time we've ever acquired a product and company with so many users. We don't

plan on doing many more of these, if any at all".

"But providing the best photo sharing experience is one reason why so many people love Facebook and we knew it would be worth bringing these two companies together," Zuckerberg had said.

An Instagram application tuned to Apple's iPhones, iPads, and iPod touch devices has been downloaded more than 27 mt since the first version was released in late 2010 by the San Francisco startup.

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