Forty-eight U.S. Attorneys General led by New York filed a lawsuit against Facebook Wednesday arguing that the social media giant violated antitrust law by engaging in anticompetitive practices through buying out smaller rivals. The group of state law enforcement executives were joined by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filing a separate lawsuit.
Both suits center on Facebook’s purchases of Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014 for $1 billion and $19 billion respectively, while also targeting smaller firms. The acquisitions, plaintiffs allege, illegally stifled online competition. The FTC is seeking to force Facebook to sell Instagram and WhatsApp.
“Facebook’s actions to entrench and maintain its monopoly deny consumers the benefits of competition,” said FTC Director of Bureau Competition Ian Conner. “Our aim is to roll back Facebook’s anticompetitive conduct and restore competition so that innovation and free competition can thrive.” --->READ MORE HERE
 |
| Erin Scott/Reuters |
The Federal Trade Commission and 48 state attorneys general filed an antitrust lawsuit against Facebook on Wednesday, which, if successful, could lead to the first court-ordered breakup of a U.S. corporation in a decade.
The lawsuit claims that Facebook has engaged in anticompetitive practices and attempted to stymie or gain control over rivals to monopolize its social media network. In particular, the suit seeks to end Facebook’s control over WhatsApp and Instagram.
“Facebook recognizes that its continued ownership and operation of Instagram and WhatsApp…neutralizes their direct competitive threats,” the FTC lawsuit states. “Facebook continues to monitor the industry for competitive threats, and likely would seek to acquire any companies that constitute, or could be repositioned to constitute, threats to its personal social networking monopoly.” --->READ MORE HEREFollow links below to related stories:
FTC and coalition of states sue Facebook in pair of antitrust lawsuits
48 States, FTC Unveil Anti-Trust Push To Break Up Facebook
Facebook Hit with Huge Lawsuits from Federal Government, Dozens of States
Facebook blasts FTC antitrust lawsuit: 'A chilling warning to American business'
If you like what you see, please "Like" us on Facebook either here or here. Please follow us on Twitter here.
No comments:
Post a Comment