[ad_1]
The Federal Trade Commission, along with 46 states and two territories, has accused Facebook of being a “social media monopoly” and buying competitors, such as Instagram and WhatsApp, to maintain its monopoly. The allegations were outlined in a lawsuit filed Wednesday.
“For nearly a decade, Facebook has used its dominance and monopoly power to crush smaller rivals and eliminate competition, all at the expense of everyday users,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement. . “Today, we are taking steps to defend the millions of consumers and many small businesses that have been harmed by Facebook’s illegal behavior.”
The federal government is asking the courts to force Facebook to sell Instagram and WhatsApp, and wants to require Facebook to “request prior notice and approval for future mergers and acquisitions,” the FTC wrote in a statement. The FTC complaint also alleges that Facebook placed “imposing anti-competitive conditions on API and data access,” citing a case in 2013 where Facebook prevented Vine from accessing a feature that would allow Vine to view a user’s Facebook friends.
“Facebook’s actions to secure and maintain its monopoly deny consumers the benefits of competition. Our goal is to roll back Facebook’s anti-competitive conduct and restore competition so that innovation and free competition can flourish, ”said Ian Conner, Director of the FTC’s Office of Competition.
In another lawsuit filed by attorneys general from 48 states, they argue that, in addition to acquiring competitors to maintain its monopoly, Facebook has “broad freedom to establish the terms of how its users’ private information is collected, used, and protected.” Facebook’s monopoly also leads to weaker privacy protections for users, they allege. In addition to hurting users, they say, Facebook’s monopoly also hurts advertisers – the platform’s main source of revenue – because there is a lack of transparency “to assess the value [advertisers] receive from advertisements “.
In response to the complaints, Jennifer Newstead, Facebook’s vice president and general counsel, issued a statement: “Instagram and WhatsApp became the amazing products they are today because Facebook invested billions of dollars and years of innovation and experience to develop new features and better experiences for the millions who enjoy those products, ”he said. “The most important fact in this case, which the Commission does not mention in its 53-page complaint, is that it authorized these acquisitions years ago. The government now wants a new version, sending a chilling warning to US companies that no sale is final. “
Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg posted on Facebook’s internal social network to refute the charges. “In general, we do not agree with the government’s accusations,” Zuckerberg said, according to CNET. “The reality is that we compete with many other services in everything we do and we compete fairly.”
In October, the House of Representatives antitrust subcommittee issued a report saying that tech giants like Facebook, Google, Amazon and Apple “run the market and compete in it as well.” And, as reported by CNET, federal and state authorities may file an antitrust lawsuit against Google next week.
[ad_2]
