US Federal Trade Commission Urges Courts To Allow All Antitrust Lawsuits On Facebook

JAKARTA – The US Federal Trade Commission said on Wednesday, November 17 that a federal court should allow an antitrust lawsuit filed against Facebook to go forward because the company had "interrupted the competitive process by targeting emerging threats through proprietary behavior."

In August, the FTC updated its antitrust case against Facebook, now named Meta Platform, adding details about allegations against the social media company destroying or buying rival companies and asking judges to force it to sell Instagram and WhatsApp.

The lawsuit is one of the most significant challenges the FTC has brought against tech companies in decades, and is being watched closely as the US government aims to address the broad market power of Big Tech.

In a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the FTC said that for more than a decade, Facebook's market share — for example, more than 70% of daily active users — exceeded the level required to establish monopoly power.

It said Facebook was trying to maintain its monopoly position by buying photo-sharing app Instagram and secure messaging app WhatsApp. Meta Inc clearly disagrees about the lawsuit.

"The FTC is once again bringing the case for monopoly without a monopolist. Its claim ignores the fact that people have more choices than ever before in how they share, connect and communicate, and the second complaint should be dismissed like the first," a Meta spokesperson said in a statement. quoted by Reuters.

The FTC also argued that Facebook was wrong to ask FTC Chair, Lina Khan, to withdraw from the vote to approve the amended complaint. The FTC said it was originally filed before he was nominated to the commission and it would be the court, not the commission, that decides the case. Facebook has said that Khan is assessing the case because of his previous work.