But the interest of Facebook`s top executives in Phhhoto was just a spectacle, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York by the startup, which no longer exists. Instead, Facebook only wants to crush competition, according to the lawsuit, which has accused the company of antitrust violations. If the government loses the deal, Facebook could still be weakened by the result, like Microsoft two decades earlier. When Microsoft lost the first case and was found guilty of violating antitrust laws, its share price fell 14% — and MSFT`s shares didn`t recover for a decade and a half. Among other things, the FTC lawsuit calls on the court to force Facebook to cancel its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp, leaving them as independent companies that could compete with Facebook. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed the new lawsuit in federal court in Washington on Thursday, claiming facebook violated antitrust laws by buying Instagram and WhatsApp to eliminate them as competitors. As in the previous complaint, the FTC is asking the court to cancel the acquisitions. “This lawsuit is baseless and we will vigorously defend ourselves,” Joe Osborne, a spokesman for Meta, Facebook`s parent company, said late Thursday night. If a company is suspected of engaging in conduct that violates any of these three laws, the federal or state governments can take antitrust action against the company. The FTC voted 3-2 along party lines to file the amended lawsuit, with President Lina Khan attending the agency`s deliberations and supporting the new complaint.
The Commission rejected Facebook`s request to reject Ms Khan, a Democrat, for her previous criticism of big tech companies. The FTC`s antitrust case is designed to force Facebook to cancel its acquisitions of WhatsApp and Instagram, two of its landmark deals. States have filed a separate and similar lawsuit, claiming that a lack of competition has harmed consumers, including by weakening data protection. In a surprising move, a federal judge dismissed the lawsuit six months after it was filed, saying the FTC had not provided enough evidence to support the claim that Facebook was a monopoly and that it had waited too long to present the case. The agency has 30 days to provide more details, and analysts can`t agree on whether it`s a good thing or a bad thing. The lawsuit is the latest antitrust challenge from the world`s largest tech companies. Facebook, Google and Apple have faced lawsuits from rivals over the years, accusing them of copying their technology or buying it to crush it. A recent high-profile cartel case was more successful for the Department of Justice. In November 2020, the Justice Department sued Visa to block the $5.3 billion acquisition of financial technology company Plaid, an online payment processing startup. The FTC said in its statement that the agency`s general counsel had reviewed and rejected Facebook`s request to reject it. The FTC voted 3-2 to file the amended complaint, with Khan joining the agency`s other two Democrats in the case republican commissioners voted against. Supporters of Facebook`s lawsuit said Boasberg`s decision illustrated the legal hurdles the government faces in opening monopoly cases.
Proponents of the reform argue that court rulings for decades have effectively allowed dominant companies to engage in anti-competitive tactics and that Congress must give new powers to law enforcement. The Federal Trade Commission today sued Facebook, claiming that the company was illegally maintaining its personal monopoly on social media through years of anti-competitive behavior. Following a lengthy investigation with a coalition of attorneys general from 46 states, the District of Columbia and Guam, the lawsuit alleges that Facebook pursued a systematic strategy — including the acquisition of its emerging rival Instagram in 2012, the acquisition of mobile messaging app WhatsApp in 2014, and the imposition of anti-competitive conditions on software developers. eliminate threats to its monopoly. This behavioral trajectory hurts competition, leaves consumers with few opportunities for personal social networks, and deprives advertisers of the benefits of competition. Boasberg didn`t just dismiss the FTC`s case. He also dismissed a parallel case of New York-led attorneys general without giving them the opportunity to try again. The judge said states had waited too long to challenge Facebook`s acquisitions. Facebook bought Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014. The legal doctrine that applied to states does not apply to the FTC.
Facebook sought to exclude Khan from participation in the case, arguing that her academic writings on the company and her work on the House antitrust body, which investigated Facebook and other tech platforms, showed she was biased. The Federal Trade Commission strives to promote competition and protect and educate consumers. You can learn more about how competition benefits consumers or file an antitrust complaint. A coalition of 48 attorneys general, led by New York`s Letitia James, announced a new lawsuit against Facebook on Wednesday, saying the company is stifling competition to protect its “monopoly power.” The FTC`s separate lawsuit alleged that the company had illegally maintained its “monopoly” for years of anti-competitive practices. The FTC said the new complaint provided new details showing that Facebook held dominant market shares in the U.S.