"Judge dismisses FTC and state antitrust complaints against Facebook"

" \n A federal court on Monday\u00a0dismissed\u00a0the Federal Trade Commission\u2019s antitrust complaint against\u00a0Facebook, as well as a\u00a0parallel case\u00a0brought by 48 state attorneys general, dealing a major setback for the agency\u2019s complaint that could have resulted in Facebook\u00a0divesting Instagram and WhatsApp. \n \n\n \n Shares of\u00a0Facebook\u00a0rose more than 4% on Monday following the rulings, sending the social media company\u2019s market capitalization above\u00a0$1 trillion\u00a0for the first time. \n \n\n \n \u201cWe are pleased that today\u2019s decisions recognize the defects in the government complaints against Facebook,\u201d the company said in a statement. \u201cWe compete fairly every day to earn people\u2019s time and attention and will continue to deliver great products for the people and businesses that use our services.\u201d \n \n\n \n The FTC sued the company\u00a0last December, alongside attorneys general from 48 states, arguing that Facebook engaged engaged in a systematic strategy to eliminate threats to its monopoly, including the 2012 and 2014 acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp, respectively, which the FTC previously cleared.\u00a0 \n \n\n \n However, the court ruled Monday said the FTC failed to prove its main contention, and the cornerstone of the case: That Facebook holds monopoly power in the U.S. personal social networking market. \n \n\n \n \u201cAlthough the Court does not agree with all of Facebook\u2019s contentions here, it ultimately concurs that the agency\u2019s Complaint is legally insufficient and must therefore be dismissed,\u201d reads the filing from U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. \u201cThe FTC has failed to plead enough facts to plausibly establish a necessary element of all of its Section 2 claims -- namely, that Facebook has monopoly power in the market for Personal Social Networking (PSN) Services.\u201d \n \n\n \n The court found the FTC did not provide enough detailed data to prove Facebook has market power in the loosely defined market for personal social networking services. \n \n\n \n \u201cThe Complaint is undoubtedly light on specific factual allegations regarding consumer-switching preferences,\u201d the court wrote. \u201cThese allegations -- which do not even provide an estimated actual figure or range for\u00a0Facebook\u2019s market share at any point over the past ten years -- ultimately fall short of plausibly establishing that\u00a0Facebook\u00a0holds market power.\u201d \n \n\n \n Read This: Ghana: Power exports to neighbouring countries increase by 26% \n \n\n \n Elsewhere, the filing notes that the FTC\u2019s complaint seemed to assume that the court would agree Facebook is a monopoly. \n \n\n \n \u201cThe FTC\u2019s Complaint says almost nothing concrete on the key question of how much power Facebook actually had, and still has, in a properly defined antitrust product market,\u201d the filing reads. \u201cIt is almost as if the agency expects the Court to simply nod to the conventional wisdom that Facebook is a monopolist.\u201d \n \n\n \n The ruling is not necessarily the end of the case. The court acknowledged that the FTC may be able to cure the weaknesses in its argument so left open the possibility that it could file an amended complaint and continue the litigation. \n \n\n \n \u201cThe FTC is closely reviewing the opinion and assessing the best option forward,\u201d a spokesperson for the FTC said. \n \n\n \n The court also disagreed with Facebook\u2019s argument that the FTC does not have the power to attack the acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp, which took place in 2012 and 2014. On the contrary, it ruled that the FTC can still seek divestiture of these acquisitions -- but only if it succeeds in its legal arguments about Facebook\u2019s monopoly power. \n \n\n \n However, the court completely dismissed the parallel case from the state attorneys general, saying that the long delay between the acquisitions and the 2020 case filing were unprecedented on a state level, and that the states\u2019 argument about \u201cFacebook preventing interoperability with competing apps fails to state a claim under current antitrust law, as there is nothing unlawful about having such a policy.\u201d \n \n\n \n \u201cWe are reviewing this decision and considering our legal options,\u201d a spokesman for the office of New York Attorney General Letitia James said. \n \n\n \n Read the full ruling in the FTC case here. \n "

"Judge dismisses FTC and state antitrust complaints against Facebook"

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