Facebook's acquisition of messaging service WhatsApp is under scrutiny from the European Union.

The $16 billion deal was brokered in February but is yet to receive EU ratification, with the institution due to make a decision on the matter next month.

The EU is to consult with other messaging app providers and telecommunications companies to decide whether Facebook's purchase is beneficial to the citizens of its member states.

It is also trying to determine whether the deal could result in price increases or the decline or services such as SMS and email, Digital Spy reported citing Reuters.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has offered assurances that WhatsApp will remain its own entity, rather than be absorbed into the social network's messaging platform.

However, this has not stopped privacy campaigners from pressuring the firm into declaring what it plans to do with the messenger service's personal data.