Court Should Allow Antitrust Lawsuit Against Facebook to Proceed, Says US Agency

The US Federal Trade Commission mentioned on Wednesday {that a} federal courtroom ought to permit an antitrust lawsuit it filed towards Facebook to go ahead as the corporate has “interfered with the aggressive course of by concentrating on nascent threats via exclusionary conduct.” In August the FTC refreshed its antitrust case against Facebook, now Meta Platforms, adding detail on the accusation the social media company crushed or bought rivals and asking a judge to force it to sell Instagram and WhatsApp.

The lawsuit represents one of the most significant challenges the FTC has brought against a tech company in decades, and is being closely watched as Washington aims to tackle Big Tech’s extensive market power. In a filing with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the FTC said that for more than a decade, Facebook’s market share – for example, more than 70 percent of daily active users – exceed the levels needed to establish monopoly power.

It said that Facebook sought to maintain its monopoly position by buying photo-sharing app Instagram and secure messaging app WhatsApp. Meta disagreed.

“The FTC has once again brought a monopolization case without a monopolist. Its claims ignore the reality that people have more choices than ever before in how they share, connect, and communicate, and its second complaint should be dismissed just like the first,” a Meta spokesperson mentioned in an announcement. The FTC additionally argued that Facebook was flawed to ask that Chair Lina Khan be recused from voting to approve the amended grievance. The FTC mentioned it was initially filed earlier than she was nominated to the fee and it might be the courtroom, not the fee, which determined the case. Facebook had mentioned that Khan prejudged the case due to her earlier work.