contest
Setback for Facebook: Judge allows US antitrust lawsuit
The FTC accuses Facebook, among other things, of a monopoly position in the market for online networks. Photo: Andre M. Chang / ZUMA Press Wire / dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
Ten years ago, Facebook took over the photo platform Instagram, followed two years later by the WhatsApp chat service. The US antitrust office is now trying to break up the group in its second attempt.
The competition lawsuit, with which the US government wants to smash Facebook, has been accepted in the second attempt by a court in Washington. Judge James Boasberg dismissed the first version last summer, citing insufficient reasoning.
In the amended lawsuit, he saw the allegation of unfair competition much better justified, as evidenced by court documents. The judge also dismissed Facebook’s request to dismiss the lawsuit on the grounds that FTC chief Lina Khan was biased.
Takeover of WhatsApp and Instagram
The FTC (Federal Trade Commission) accuses Facebook, among other things, of a monopoly position in the market for online networks. Facebook also bought the WhatsApp chat service and the Instagram photo platform to protect this monopoly in an unfair way. Therefore, the takeovers would have to be reversed.
The original lawsuit was filed in December 2020 at the end of then President Donald Trump’s term of office, and it was improved under the leadership of FTC chief Khan, appointed by his successor Joe Biden.
FTC provides more arguments
As requested by the judge, the FTC provided more arguments in the amended lawsuit that are supposed to prove Facebook’s monopoly position. The authority relies primarily on the development of user numbers and analyzes of the time people spend on the platform.
A spokesman for the Facebook group Meta told the Wall Street Journal after the judge’s decision that they were convinced that the facts would refute the allegations. Facebook’s investments in WhatsApp and Instagram were good for the competition.
Facebook bought Instagram in 2012 for around a billion dollars and WhatsApp in 2014 for around 22 billion dollars in the end. Instagram now has around a billion users, WhatsApp around two billion. The US competition watchdogs approved the takeovers of Instagram and WhatsApp. In addition to the FTC, an alliance of more than 40 states had filed a lawsuit against the deals, but Judge Boasberg dismissed it completely in June.