Giant social media Facebook said the lawsuit from the US government over allegations of monopolistic practices not based on the rules of US antitrust (monopoly) laws.
The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and 48 states have sued to dissolve Facebook and want the court to order “the divestment of assets, including Instagram and WhatsApp”.
Facebook acquired Instagram in 2012, then WhatsApp in 2014. According to Facebook, the two acquisitions were already under review by regulators, including by the FTC and the European Commission.
Why was it just a problem recently?
Facebook questioned why the FTC thought the acquisition was wrong years later after the multi-billion dollar investment had been poured out.
“Apart from being a revisionist history, this is not how the antitrust law works. No American antitrust enforcement has ever brought a case like this before, and for good reason,” wrote Facebook via its official website on Wednesday (9/12) local time.
“The FTC and the states have been silent for years while Facebook invested billions of dollars and millions of hours to make Instagram and WhatsApp the apps users enjoy today,” he added.
FB Acquires IG and FB to make both applications better
Facebook says they have acquired Instagram and WhatsApp because they believe both are beneficial for users and the company believes they can make it better.
FB also said that the lawsuits filed could raise doubts and uncertainty about the US government’s own merger review process.
Moreover, Facebook also stated that they were aware of the atmosphere that made the FTC raise this issue. It said there were important questions regarding the ‘tech giant’ whether Facebook and its competitors were making the right decisions on matters including elections, violent content and privacy.
“We have already taken many steps on the issue, and we are far from over. We have requested new regulations to solve some of those problems on a large industrial base. But none of these cases are of antitrust concern, and the FTC is doing nothing to solve it.By updating the rules of the internet can resolves those tough challenges,” wrote FB.
Earlier attorneys general from 48 states and the FTC said they filed a lawsuit against Facebook as a form of concern. The lawsuit sent Facebook’s share price down by four percent on Wednesday (9/12).
The lawsuit was also filed roughly 14 months after New York Attorney General Letitia James announced that his office was leading a group of attorneys general to investigate Facebook for possible anti-competitive practices.
More than 40 attorneys general finally signed the lawsuit on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the FTC has been carrying out an antitrust investigation against Facebook since June 2019.
Read now: US Government Sues Facebook, Why?
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