The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has today filed a lawsuit against Facebook alleging that the company has created an illegal monopoly based on anti-competitive practices.
According to an announcement by the FTC, the lawsuit includes the company's Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp services, as well as the alleged imposition of practices by Facebook on software developers.
The announcement says the US government is seeking an order to force the company to divest these and potentially other services and to prevent Facebook from acquiring new companies without federal approval. permission.
According to the FTC statement:
After a lengthy investigation in collaboration with a team of attorneys general of 46 states, the District of Columbia and Guam, the complaint alleges that Facebook engaged in a systematic strategy – including acquisitionς του ανερχόμενου αντίπαλου της Instagram το 2012, την απόκτηση της εφαρμογής για κινητά messages WhatsApp in 2014 and imposing anti-competitive terms on software developers – to eliminate threats to its monopoly. This behavior harms competition, leaves consumers with few options for personal social networking, and deprives advertisers of the benefits of competition.
The FTC is seeking a permanent injunction from the federal court that could, inter alia:
- Require the sale of assets such as Instagram and WhatsApp.
- Prohibit Facebook from imposing anti-competitive conditions on software developers,
- and require Facebook to request permission for future mergers and acquisitions.
It will need some further analysis to see what effects the FTC decision will have in practice considering that the US is in a transitional state at the moment.
At present no one can predict how the next president will handle the situation. It is worth emphasizing that the case is now in the hands of the court.
