Facebook Inc. is seeking to have its federal antitrust suits by the FTC and state attorneys general thrown out, arguing that enforcers failed to show it has a monopoly and waited too long to challenge its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp.
The Federal Trade Commission and a group of state attorneys general filed separate lawsuits against Facebook last December accusing the tech giant of engaging in anti-competitive behavior. The two lawsuits make similar claims, alleging that Facebook bought Instagram and WhatsApp in order to squash the threat the two apps posed to the company’s business. Additionally, the attorneys general accused Facebook of using its market dominance to stifle the growth of competing services.
The FTC’s case also calls for the courts to unwind Facebook’s acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp into separate companies once again.
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In a statement, the company said neither lawsuit had made a credible case for antitrust. “Antitrust laws are intended to promote competition and protect consumers,” Facebook wrote. “These complaints do not credibly claim that our conduct harmed either.”
The lawsuits are perhaps the most significant legal threats to Facebook’s business in its more than 16-year history and demonstrate the government’s changing attitudes toward Facebook and its fellow tech giants. Once darlings of industry, the companies have been positioned by critics as the poster children of corporate greed and market power.
The chief executives of Facebook, Google, Apple, and Amazon were hauled before Congress last summer in a high-profile grilling over antitrust concerns. Another hearing with some of the same executives has been scheduled for later this month. Various regulatory agencies and state attorneys general have been investigating the companies, too.
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