Dallas, TX, United States, 10/04/2021 / Dallas News Desk /
In a court filing, Facebook stated that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) was unable to present a “plausible factual basis for branding Facebook an unlawful monopolist” According to the business, the FTC “had no basis for its naked allegation that Facebook has or had a monopoly.”
The social media company requested that the case be closed with penalty, making it more difficult for the agency to alter the claim. The FTC did not respond to the request.
In June, Judge James Boasberg of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia found that the FTC’s first lawsuit, filed in December, failed to present proof that Facebook had monopolistic control in the social-networking industry.
The FTC’s revised lawsuit, filed in August, expanded on its claim that the social media corporation suppressed or acquired competitors and urged Boasberg to force the sale of Instagram and WhatsApp once again.
In its amended complaint, the FTC claimed in detail that Facebook has dominated the US personal social networking industry with more than 65 percent of monthly active users since 2012.
According to a Facebook filing, the FTC lawsuit was “at odds with the commercial reality of intense competition with surging rivals like TikTok and scores of other attractive options for consumers.”
In August, the FTC voted 3-2 along party lines to bring the revised complaint and refused Facebook’s request that head of the agency, Lina Khan, should recuse herself.
Facebook said in its petition that the FTC vote to bring the revised case was invalid since Khan participated.
It featured a long string of remarks from Khan, made before she became FTC chair, that were critical of the social media mogul. She welcomes litigation initiated by the FTC and state attorneys general in a series of tweets from December 2020, saying she is “hopeful that it marks yet another step forward in the growing efforts to rehabilitate antitrust laws.”
Facebook also mentions that the FTC is seeking to reverse mergers that it approved: Instagram, which it purchased for $1 billion in 2012, and WhatsApp, which it purchased for $19 billion in 2014.
The motion stated, “The FTC challenges acquisitions that the agency cleared after its own contemporaneous review. The case is entirely without legal or factual support. This is as true now as it was before.”
Facebook also provided a dissent from Republican FTC Commissioner Christine Wilson, who voted against bringing the revised case since the FTC had expressed no concerns to the Instagram and WhatsApp purchases.
“The FTC’s fictional market ignores the competitive reality: Facebook competes vigorously with TikTok, iMessage, Twitter, Snapchat, LinkedIn, YouTube, and countless others to help people share, connect, communicate or simply be entertained,” a Facebook spokesperson stated. “The FTC cannot credibly claim Facebook has monopoly power because no such power exists.”
Source: Submit123News
