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The Federal Trade Commission of the United States and attorneys general from 48 states announced lawsuits against Facebook for “predatory conduct.”
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), a US government agency dedicated to enforcing competition laws and consumer protection, and attorneys general accuse the tech giant of abusing its market power on the networks. social networks to crush competitors. the little ones.
Facebook is accused of depriving consumers of the benefits of a competitive marketplace and better protection of privacy by acquire two of your main competitors, Instagram and WhatsApp.
The company led by Mark Zuckerberg responded that both the federal government and the authorities of the 48 states involved are unaware of the effects that the decision will have on the business community and the users of its services.
“After approving our acquisitions years ago, the Government now wants a second attempt, without worrying about the impact that such a precedent would have on the entire business community or on the people who choose to use our products every day,” emphasized Facebook, it’s a statement.
The FTC asked a court to force Facebook to sell its Instagram and WhatsApp messaging services. New York Attorney General Letitia James told a news conference that it was “very important to block this predatory acquisition of companies and restore confidence in the market.”
According to the FTC, Facebook has engaged in a “systematic strategy” to eliminate its competition, including by acquiring smaller rivals such as Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014.
Facebook was fined $ 5 billion (€ 4.14 billion) in 2019 for privacy violations and instituted new oversight and restrictions on its business. The fine was the largest the agency has imposed on a technology company, although it has not had a visible impact on the business of the social network.
James claimed that Facebook had a practice of opening its website to third-party app developers and then abruptly cutting off the connection when it saw them as a threat to the business. The prosecutor also pointed the finger at technology to use its dominance of the market to collect consumer data and turn it into a fortune in ad revenue.
North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein said the litigation could change the communications landscape, as it did with the breaking of AT & T’s local phone service monopoly in the early 1980s.
Instagram and WhatsApp are among the 70 companies that Facebook has acquired in the last 15 years.
The Californian company paid about $ 1 billion in 2012 to acquire Instagram and in 2014 it paid $ 19 billion to buy WhatsApp, both operations approved at the time by the same regulatory agency, the FTC, which is now filing the lawsuit. .
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