Facebook fights to retain WhatsApp, Instagram in new antitrust charge

Facebook on Wednesday was slammed with antitrust law-violating charges wherein U.S. enforcers claimed the social media giant had abused its dominant playing power in the latest series of lawsuits striking the platform this year.

The opponents now seek to rescind Facebook’s ownership of acquired messaging services Instagram and WhatsApp.

Separate suits filed by the Federal Trade Commission and a coalition of state officials pushed for the move, targeting what the platform calls its “family” of applications.

“Facebook’s actions to entrench and maintain its monopoly deny consumers the benefits of competition,” said Ian Conner, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Competition.

“Our aim is to roll back Facebook’s anticompetitive conduct and restore competition so that innovation and free competition can thrive.”

A separate legal action was filed by antitrust enforcers from 48 US states and territories.

“For nearly a decade, Facebook has used its dominance and monopoly power to crush smaller rivals and snuff out competition, all at the expense of everyday users,” said New York state Attorney General Letitia James, who leads the coalition.

The suits allege Facebook sought to squash competition with its takeover of messaging applications — Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014.

The battle now rages fierce as Facebook’s “family” hangs in balance, the prolific apps now an increasingly important element of the Californian giants’ business model.

Standing by its prior rebuttals, the platform once again denied abuse of its position and said it would “vigorously” defend against the allegations.

“Antitrust laws exist to protect consumers and promote innovation, not to punish successful businesses,” Facebook general counsel Jennifer Newstead said in a statement.

“Instagram and WhatsApp became the incredible products they are today because Facebook invested billions of dollars, and years of innovation and expertise, to develop new features and better experiences for the millions who enjoy those products.”

Newstead added that these deals had been approved years ago by the FTC, which she said meant “the government now wants a do-over, sending a chilling warning to American business that no sale is ever final.”

But he also noted that “American antitrust law is now so hard to enforce in all cases, especially in cases like this, involving no conspiracy among competitors, and rather involving only one big firm’s unilateral conduct.”

The FTC announced earlier this year it would review acquisitions made by five Big Tech firms over the past decade, opening the door to a wave of potential antitrust investigations.

The consumer protection agency said it would review deals made by Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Microsoft and Google parent Alphabet since 2010 amid growing complaints about tech platforms which have dominated key economic sectors..

[Sourced from Agencies]