One of the final hurdles preventing Instagram coming under the control of Facebook has been cleared, after the Office of Fair Trading gave the deal a big thumbs up.
Back in June, the OFT decided to take a look into the planned billion dollar acquisition, amid fears rival apps like Hipstamatic and Camera+ may suffer as a result.
Both sides were required to submit assurances to the regulator by last month, and it appears the OFT was satisfied enough to green light the buyout.
Had the OFT expressed a concern then the case would have been referred to the UK's Competition Commission. That now won't be necessary.
No lessening of competition
An OFT spokesperson said it had looked into whether the deal may "result in the merging parties limiting access from other sharing sources.
"While they may have the ability to do so, the evidence we received doesn't suggest that the parties would pursue such a strategy."
"We concluded that the deal would not result in a substantial lessening of competition in the UK.," the spokesperson added.
Facebook now needs similar approval from the US-based FTC before the deal, agreed in principal in April, can be officially rubber stamped.
