Facebook to be sued by US federal and state antitrust for monopoly abuse: Report
Social media firm Facebook Inc. will soon be sued by the US federal and state antitrust for exploitation of its dominance and thwarting competition.
Social media firm Facebook Inc. will soon be sued by the US federal and state antitrust for exploitation of its dominance and thwarting competition. According to Bloomberg, the lawsuits are expected as soon as this week from the Republican-led Federal Trade Commission and a group of state attorneys general led by New York’s Letitia James, a Democrat. The latest lawsuit will mark the second time in less than two months that the US and state officials have levelled monopoly charges against an American tech giant.
The lawsuits will be one of the biggest regulatory attacks on Facebook as it might imperil its ownership of Instagram and WhatsApp. The investigations into Facebook that began last year, as part of a wave of antitrust scrutiny directed at the American tech companies that promise to carry over into the Biden administration. Apart from Facebook, states are planning new lawsuits against Google in the coming weeks as well.
As per reports, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is targeting Google’s advertising business while another group that included Colorado, Iowa and New York has been investigating the company’s search monopoly, the subject of the Justice Department’s complaint.
Coming back to Facebook, the tech giant has been a prime target for outgoing President Donald Trump in the last two months of his administration. Previously, Trump even threatens to veto the annual US defence authorisation bill unless Congress adds a rider to abolish the law that protects technology companies, including Facebook, from liability over most content posted by users. In recent months, Trump and several other Republican leaders have also claimed that the technology platforms suppress conservative views.
Now, as Democratic leader Joe Biden won the November 3 Presidential election, his Justice Department will be carrying the Google case forward. Facebook case, on the other hand, will fall to whomever Biden picks as FTC chairman if Joe Simons, a Trump appointee, leaves the agency. As of yet, no decisions have been made and the filings could be delayed.
Antitrust panel condemns big tech’ monopoly
Meanwhile, the latest lawsuit comes after an antitrust panel report, backed by Democratic lawmakers, triggered speculations around possible break up of biggest tech companies of the United States to end their monopoly. The House Judiciary Committee’s Antitrust Subcommittee released the findings of over 16-month long investigation into the state of competition in the digital economy.
The 449-page report on competition in digital markets outlined the challenges presented due to the monopoly of Amazon, Apple, Google, and Facebook. The report found that Big Techs exploit their power to dictate terms and extract concessions that “no one would reasonably consent to” in a competitive market. In some cases, a dominant firm acquired nascent or potential competitors to neutralize a competitive threat or to maintain and expand the firm’s dominance.
The panel observed that such monopoly has diminished consumer choice, eroded innovation and entrepreneurship in the US economy, weakened the vibrancy of the free and diverse press and even undermined Americans’ privacy.
Published By : Bhavya Sukheja
Published On: 8 December 2020 at 13:40 IST