Federal Trade Commission prepares possible antitrust lawsuit against Facebook: Report
A lawsuit by the FTC would mark another major escalation by U.S. officials in their campaign against America’s technology giants, which have come under intense scrutiny in Washington over their dominant market positions.
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The FTC opened the Facebook investigation in June 2019 (Representational Photo)
U.S. competition enforcers are preparing a possible antitrust lawsuit against Facebook Inc., consistent with an individual conversant in the matter.
The Federal Trade Commission has been investigating Facebook for quite a year over whether the social media giant has harmed competition and will file a case by the top of the year, said the person, who was granted anonymity because the inquiry is confidential. No final judgment has been made, the person added.
A lawsuit by the FTC would mark another major escalation by U.S. officials in their campaign against America’s technology giants, which have come under intense scrutiny in Washington over their dominant market positions. The Department of Justice is preparing to sue Alphabet Inc.’s Google during a matter of weeks.
Facebook and therefore the FTC declined to comment. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier on the agency’s lawsuit preparation. it’s standard practice for antitrust enforcers to organize for litigation as a part of an investigation, and filing a lawsuit would require a majority vote of the FTC’s five commissioners.
Technology giants are grappling with sprawling inquiries by federal agencies, Congress and state attorneys general. The U.S. House antitrust panel is preparing recommendations for reining within the power of tech companies like Facebook after a yearlong investigation of the industry. On Tuesday, a Senate Judiciary panel laid out a case for a way Google has used its dominance in search and digital advertising to profit its products and harm competition.
The FTC opened the Facebook investigation in June 2019 even as it leveled a $5 billion penalty against the corporate for privacy violations. The probe is concentrated partially on whether Facebook’s past acquisitions, like its deals for Instagram and WhatsApp, violated antitrust laws. Facebook Chief Executive Office Mark Zuckerberg was questioned last month by FTC officials.
To critics, Instagram and Whatsapp takeovers allowed Facebook to accumulate two smaller companies that would have emerged as real competitors to the corporate . Although the FTC investigated and approved both deals, it’s the authority to revisit past transactions and attend court to unwind them if it determines they were anticompetitive. FTC Chairman Joe Simons said last year he’s prepared to require such action.
At a hearing in July, House lawmakers investigating U.S. tech giants accused Zuckerberg of acquiring smaller companies as a technique to eliminate competition from rivals. Documents showed Zuckerberg internally discussed how Instagram “could be very disruptive to us.”
He countered that Instagram succeeded due to investments Facebook made after the 2012 acquisition which it had been faraway from certain that the photo-sharing site would become as big because it is today.
In addition to the FTC, Facebook is facing an antitrust investigation by a nationwide group of attorneys general led by New York’s Letitia James. The states could join any FTC lawsuit against Facebook or pursue their own case against the corporate .
