Facebook on Wednesday requested a federal judge dismiss an antitrust case brought by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and most states late last year. Facebook’s lawyers asserted the case failed to state a claim and “utterly ignores the reality of the dynamic, intensely competitive high-tech industry in which Facebook operates.” The commission and 46 states in their lawsuits against Facebook claimed the California-based company was illegally maintaining its personal social networking monopoly through a years-long course of anticompetitive conduct. The suit alleged Facebook “has engaged in a systematic strategy—including its 2012 acquisition of up-and-coming rival Instagram, its 2014 acquisition of the mobile messaging app WhatsApp, and the imposition of anticompetitive conditions on software developers—to eliminate threats to its monopoly.” Plaintiffs asked the court to issue a permanent injunction that could require divestitures of assets, including Instagram and WhatsApp, and require Facebook to seek prior notice and approval for future mergers …
Facebook on Wednesday requested a federal judge dismiss an antitrust case brought by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and most states late last year. Facebook’s lawyers asserted the case failed to state a claim and “utterly ignores the reality of the dynamic, intensely competitive high-tech industry in which Facebook operates.” The commission and 46 states
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