Washington:
US federal and state antitrust enforcers filed suit against Facebook on Wednesday claiming the social media giant abused its dominant position with its acquisitions of messaging services Instagram and WhatsApp.
Separate suits filed by the Federal Trade Commission and a coalition of state officials known as for the divestment of Instagram and WhatsApp, services which have billions of customers and are component of the Facebook “family” of applications.
“Facebook’s actions to entrench and maintain its monopoly deny consumers the benefits of competition,” mentioned Ian Conner, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Competition.
“Our aim is to roll back Facebook’s anticompetitive conduct and restore competition so that innovation and free competition can thrive.”
A separate legal action was filed by state antitrust enforcers from 48 US states and territories.
“For nearly a decade, Facebook has used its dominance and monopoly power to crush smaller rivals and snuff out competition, all at the expense of everyday users,” mentioned New York state Attorney General Letitia James, who leads the coalition.
“Facebook used its power to suppress competition so it could take advantage of users and make billions by converting personal data into a cash cow.”
The suits allege Facebook sought to squelch competitors by acquiring the messaging applications — Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014.
The FTC announced earlier this year it would evaluation acquisitions produced by 5 Big Tech firms more than the previous decade, opening the door to a wave of prospective antitrust investigations.
The customer protection agency mentioned it would evaluation offers produced by Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Microsoft and Google parent Alphabet due to the fact 2010 amid developing complaints about tech platforms which have dominated essential financial sectors.
The US Justice Department, which shares antitrust enforcement with the FTC, in October sued Google parent Alphabet, accusing the Silicon Valley giant of preserving an “illegal monopoly” in on-line search and marketing and opening the door to a prospective breakup. Eleven US states joined that case.
Scrutiny has been rising for the massive tech firms which have extended their dominance in current years, such as in the course of the international pandemic as additional people today turn to world wide web platforms for goods and services.
Facebook had no quick comment.
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