The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has filed a new lawsuit against Facebook, primarily targeting the acquisition of Instagram and WhatsApp. This is the second attempt at such a lawsuit since December.
Facebook’s dominant position
In the lawsuit filed in December, the FTC sought to break up the group on the basis of its dominant position, but failed to provide sufficient evidence of the company’s monopoly position. At the June hearing, the judge in charge granted an initial 30-day period for rectification, which was subsequently extended to August 19.
The U.S. authority took advantage of this deadline and has now filed a new lawsuit, whose argumentation and evidence differ slightly from the previous one. The new lawsuit focuses primarily on the acquisitions of the two companies Instagram and WhatsApp. The authority sees this as the targeted elimination of competition, which ultimately led to a monopoly position. The extent to which such a monopoly exists has now also been specified: In its complaint, the FTC defines social networks as platforms on which people get in touch with friends and relatives and at the same time share posts and events in a common space. According to the FTC, there is no longer any competition worth mentioning since the takeover of WhatsApp and Instagram, since YouTube, Twitter or TikTok, other very successful platforms, do not fall under the definition of social networks now presented. These platforms are less about social interaction and more about content consumption.
The authority wants to prove the dominant position in the now more narrowly defined area primarily with user numbers and the average time spent on the platform by users.
Facebook considers lawsuit unfounded
Facebook has already commented, calling the lawsuit regrettable. As part of the statement, the company not only pointed out that it does not hold a dominant position, but also that the acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp had been approved by the relevant authority at the time. The company also announced that it would continue to fight back.
The company had failed in the past with its attempt to push FTC chief Lina Khan out of the investigations: the request that the authority chief withdraw from the matter on the grounds of bias was rejected. Khan, in turn, is the driving force behind the now relaunched lawsuit.
