Jan 12. 2022 in FINANCIAL
Facebook has violated competition rules, the regulator finds, because the purchases eliminated the companies as competitors.
Ⓒ ANP/HH
WASHINGTON (AP/BLOOMBERG) – Facebook has yet to go to court in the case that the American competition watchdog, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) brought again against the social media platform for alleged abuse of power.
Facebook has violated competition rules, the regulator finds, because the purchases eliminated the companies as competitors.
Ⓒ ANP/HH
A judge has rejected the request from Facebook, which is part of Meta, to drop the case because the FTC's allegations are now "more forceful and detailed."
According to the judge, the FTC has now gathered enough facts to "make it plausible that Facebook exercises a monopoly." In addition, according to the judge, the watchdog also sufficiently explained that Facebook not only occupies a monopoly position, but also “intentionally maintained it through anticompetitive behavior.”
According to the FTC, Facebook has had a monopoly on personal social networks in the United States since 2011. The FTC also wants Facebook to be broken up and the acquisitions of social media platform Instagram in 2012 and messaging service WhatsApp to be reversed in 2014.
'Competitor disabled'
In doing so, Facebook has violated competition rules, according to the regulator, because the purchases eliminated the companies as competitors.
The FTC's case was initially dismissed by a judge due to insufficient evidence of cartel practices. The regulator was then given a month to come up with more evidence. Facebook also found that FTC chief Lina Khan, appointed by President Joe Biden, was too biased, having previously published about Facebook as a researcher and served on a House of Representatives committee of inquiry investigating the tech company.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg's company has always resisted the charges and believes there is no monopolistic behavior.
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