Facebook files motions to dismiss FTC antitrust casetrust
Facebook has filed motions to dismiss the antitrust cases against the company. These cases were filed last year by the US FTC and several US states. According to Facebook, both cases are unfounded.
Facebook claims in a blog post that the lawsuits are unfounded. These cases were filed about three months ago by the Federal Trade Commission and 48 Attorneys General of US states and the island of Guam, respectively. The company reported in December on Twitter that the company was investigating the allegations and that Facebook would come up with a response later.
Both lawsuits allege that Facebook has an illegal monopoly position through its acquisition of Instagram and WhatsApp. The company would have taken over these two platforms to recruit potential competitors. The charges also allege that Facebook hinders the competitive position of other platforms. “For nearly a decade, Facebook has been using its monopoly to crush smaller rivals and eliminate competition, all at the expense of users,” New York Attorney General Letitia James wrote last year.
The FTC hopes with its lawsuit to achieve, among other things, that Facebook is forced by the federal judge to divest WhatsApp and Instagram. The regulator also demands that Facebook must now request approval for future mergers and acquisitions. Facebook argues that this is unfounded and claims that the FTC has not provided plausible evidence of anti-competitive behavior. The company also states that the FTC has not sufficiently demonstrated that there is a monopoly.
The platform also states that the FTC cannot simply reverse the acquisitions, since the regulator approved these acquisitions at the time. “Facebook is not aware of similar, let alone successful, charges by the FTC against a completed acquisition that the FTC has approved itself,” the company said in a statement to the court.
The company is also filing a motion against the attorney general’s lawsuit, in which it also claims the case is unfounded. Facebook argues that the states have no jurisdiction to bring this case. “States are suing not as federal law enforcement officers or for damages suffered by the states themselves, but as ‘parens patriae’ on behalf of their citizens,” the company writes. “The states are not arguing the requisite interest to the lawsuit that would give them the authority to sue in that capacity.”
Facebook also believes that the states have waited too long to file the lawsuit. “That’s much longer than the four-year time limit, which is the statute of limitations for filing a lawsuit under federal antitrust laws,” the company said.