Federal Trade Commission v. Facebook

Federal Trade Commission v. Facebook is a United States court cause in which the Federal Trade Commission made claims about Facebook, Inc. regarding United States antitrust law.[1]

complaint from Federal Trade Commission v. Facebook
Federal Trade Commission v. Facebook, Inc.
CourtUnited States District Court for the District of Columbia

On December 8, 2020, the Federal Trade Commission, along with 46 US states (excluding Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, and South Dakota), the District of Columbia and the territory of Guam, launched an antitrust lawsuit against Facebook. The lawsuit concerns Facebook's acquisition of two competitors - Instagram and WhatsApp - and the ensuing monopolistic situation. FTC alleges that Facebook holds monopolistic power in the US social networking market and seeks to force the company to divest from Instagram and WhatsApp to break up the conglomerate.[2] William Kovacic, a former chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, argued the case will be difficult to win as it would require the government to create a counter factual argument of an internet where the Facebook-WhatsApp-Instagram entity did not exist, and prove that harmed competition or consumers.[3]

The Federal Trade Commission said that Facebook's actions prevent consumers from enjoying the benefits of competition.[4]

References
  1. Kang, Cecilia; Isaac, Mike (9 December 2020). "U.S. and States Say Facebook Illegally Crushed Competition". The New York Times.
  2. Feiner, Lauren; Rodriguez, Salvador (8 December 2020). "FTC and states sue Facebook, could force it to divest Instagram and WhatsApp". CNBC. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
  3. Business, Brian Fung, CNN. "The legal battle to break up Facebook is underway. Now comes the hard part". CNN. Retrieved 2020-12-10.
  4. Kendall, Brent; McKinnon, John D. (10 December 2020). "Facebook Hit With Antitrust Lawsuits by FTC, State Attorneys General". Wall Street Journal.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.