WASHINGTON – United States regulators yesterday refiled a suit accusing Facebook of maintaining an illegal monopoly on social networking, two months after the case was dismissed by a judge.
In the amended complaint, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said Facebook’s dominance “is protected by high barriers to entry”, and that “even an entrant with a superior product cannot succeed against the overwhelming network effects enjoyed by an incumbent personal social network”.
The suit, filed in a federal court in the US capital here, said Facebook uses “anticompetitive acquisitions” to protect its dominance, including of the image-centric social platform Instagram and messaging service WhatsApp.
FTC officials said the deals amount to “illegal buy-or-bury” schemes.
“Facebook lacked the business acumen and technical talent to survive the transition to mobile. After failing to compete with new innovators, Facebook illegally bought or buried them when their popularity became an existential threat,” said FTC acting competition bureau chief Holly Vedova.
“This conduct is no less anticompetitive than if Facebook had bribed emerging app competitors not to compete... FTC’s action today seeks to put an end to this illegal activity, and restore competition for the benefit of Americans and honest businesses alike.”
Facebook, which has long denied it maintains a monopoly, in a statement said: “We are reviewing FTC’s amended complaint and will have more to say soon.”
In June, US district judge James Boasberg in a 53-page opinion said the agency’s initial suit lacks evidence, notably in defining the market that Facebook allegedly monopolises.
The agency based its case on a “vague” assertion that Facebook controls more than 60% of the social networking market, but FTC “does not even allege what it is measuring”, according to the judge’s June 28 ruling, which allowed the agency an opportunity to refile the case on different grounds. – AFP, August 20, 2021
