US antitrust cases against Facebook dismissed by judge, Telecom News, ET Telecom
Kelly Choos
2 min read
Judge James Boasberg of the U.S. District Court in Washington, DC dismissed the December case filed by the Federal Trade Commission and more than 40 states that could have overturned Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram and the platform. WhatsApp messaging.
The federal lawsuit “did not plead enough facts to plausibly establish a necessary element … that Facebook has monopoly power in the market for personal social networking services,” the judge said in a 53-page opinion, while leaving the authorities the possibility of submitting a new case. the case.
In lawsuits filed in December and consolidated in federal court, U.S. and state officials called for the divestiture of Instagram and WhatsApp, arguing that Facebook had acted to “entrench and maintain its monopoly to deprive consumers of the benefits of the Internet. competition â€.
The judge issued a separate opinion dismissing the case by states, saying attorneys general waited too long to file a complaint for the acquisition of Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014.
The judge said the FTC’s complaint “says next to nothing concrete on the key issue of Facebook’s real power … it’s almost as if the agency expects the court to just wink. eye to the conventional wisdom that Facebook is a monopoly “.
The federal agency based its argument on a “vague” claim that Facebook controls over 60% of the social media market, but the FTC “doesn’t even allege what it measures.”
Boasberg wrote that “the relevant market here is unusual in several respects, including the fact that the products there are not sold at a price … therefore the court is unable to understand exactly what the figure is. of “60% and more†of the agency. even referring to it, and even less able to deduce the underlying facts that might justify it. “
Still, he ruled that “this flaw could eventually be overcome by further pleading,” allowing the federal agency the opportunity to re-file the action.
There was no immediate comment from Facebook, but its shares surged after the decision, raising the company’s valuation above $ 1,000 billion for the first time.
The move comes a week after a US congressional panel brought forward legislation that would lead to a radical overhaul of antitrust laws and give regulators more power to dismantle big tech companies, specifically targeting Facebook, Google, Amazon and Apple.
The shares come amid growing concerns about the power of big tech companies, which have increasingly dominated key economic sectors and have grown steadily during the pandemic.
