After release of an exhibition by the subcommittee on antitrust, the committee's chairman, Democratic Rep. David Cicilline of Rhode Island, said Wednesday that he thinks it would be a very good idea to separate the Instagram by Facebook, according to Reuters
Cicilline told Reuters in an interview yesterday that "Facebook should not be allowed to buy Instagram."
"I would be comfortable with the separation. I think that's the right answer," Cicilline told Reuters, referring to Facebook's purchase of Instagram for 737 millions dollars in 2012.
In a report released on Tuesday, Cicilline and staff said the Instagram market helped prevent Facebook from competing in the social media market. Facebook has become so dominant that the only real competition is between Facebook and its companies, such as Instagram, the commission said.
“Facebook has driven the market to monopoly so that Facebook competes more strongly with each other productof its – Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger – rather than the real competitors”, report the authors of the report.
Of course Facebook is already taking care to make the separation very difficult, or even meaningless, since most recently joined Messenger of the social network with Instagram.
Apple, meanwhile, has denied the allegations in a statement issued Friday stating "Similar, baseless allegations concerning the company have been made more than once.