The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is considering seeking a preliminary injunction against Facebook to stop the company's plan to merge technology systems and allow users to communicate across the company’s apps.

According to a Wall Street Journal report, the FTC could ask a court to bar Facebook from enforcing policies regarding how its apps work with potential rivals. The FTC may also ask a court to forbid Facebook to move ahead with plans to integrate subsidiaries that it has purchased, the newspaper said.

Facebook plans to integrate its messaging services as part of a proposed shift toward more private forms of social networking, Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg announced in March. Under the proposal, users of Facebook units Messenger, WhatsApp and the direct messaging system within Instagram will all be able to communicate with each other.

The FTC and Facebook declined to comment.