Facebook has asked the EU to review its $19 billion WhatsApp deal

Facebook Inc. FB +0.05% has asked European Union antitrust regulators to examine its $19 billion deal to buy messaging service WhatsApp, in an attempt to avoid antitrust reviews by multiple EU countries, people familiar with the matter said. The move was unexpected because the deal had been approved in the U.S. and wasn’t expected to face scrutiny by the European Commission, the EU’s central antitrust authority. But, in light of the potential for reviews by some of Europe’s national antitrust watchdogs, Facebook is seeking one hearing that will cover the entire 28-nation bloc, the people said. “Facebook might prefer to go to the commission than go before several national regulators, which would each ask it for information,” said Thomas Graf, an antitrust lawyer with Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP in Brussels. The commission also might be expected to take a more neutral approach than national authorities, which would face vigorous lobbying from local interest groups, such as national telecom companies, antitrust experts said.