Federal court dismisses FTC antitrust complaint against Facebook
A federal court has dismissed an antitrust complaint against Facebook lodged by the Federal Trade Commission and more than 40 states, citing a lack of evidence that the company is a monopoly in its market.
Credit: Facebook
On Monday, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted Facebook's request, to have the antitrust lawsuit dismissed. The court found that the FTC did not provide enough data to prove that Facebook held monopoly power in the loosely defined Personal Social Networking Services category.
"Although the Court does not agree with all of Facebook's contentions here, it ultimately concurs that the agency's Complaint is legally insufficient and must therefore be dismissed. 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," the court's filing reads.
However, only the complaint was dismissed, not the case. That means the FTC can refile the complaint in the future.
"The FTC's 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," the filings reads. "It is almost as if the agency expects the Court to simply nod to the conventional wisdom that Facebook is a monopolist," the filing reads.
Back in December 2020, the FTC and the attorneys general for 46 U.S. states lodged antitrust complaints against the social media giant.
The lawsuits focused on Facebook's acquisition of social media companies like Instagram and WhatsApp, alleging that the company acquired the rising rivals to squash competition. One of the potential remedies could be forced divestment from those companies.
The dismissal represents a major blow to government attempts to reign in the power of Big Tech. However, antitrust scrutiny and potential legislation that could curb the power of Silicon Valley tech giants still looms.
Earlier in June, the U.S. House of Representatives introduced a sweeping slate of bills that could, among other things, ban companies like Facebook from acquiring smaller competing firms and prevent them from competing in markets they operate. All pieces of legislation in the antitrust package have been approved, meaning they'll go before the full House for a vote.
Keep up with everything Apple in the weekly AppleInsider Podcast -- and get a fast news update from AppleInsider Daily. Just say, "Hey, Siri," to your HomePod mini and ask for these podcasts, and our latest HomeKit Insider episode too.If you want an ad-free main AppleInsider Podcast experience, you can support the AppleInsider podcast by subscribing for $5 per month through Apple's Podcasts app, or via Patreon if you prefer any other podcast player.
Credit: Facebook
On Monday, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted Facebook's request, to have the antitrust lawsuit dismissed. The court found that the FTC did not provide enough data to prove that Facebook held monopoly power in the loosely defined Personal Social Networking Services category.
"Although the Court does not agree with all of Facebook's contentions here, it ultimately concurs that the agency's Complaint is legally insufficient and must therefore be dismissed. 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," the court's filing reads.
However, only the complaint was dismissed, not the case. That means the FTC can refile the complaint in the future.
"The FTC's 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," the filings reads. "It is almost as if the agency expects the Court to simply nod to the conventional wisdom that Facebook is a monopolist," the filing reads.
Back in December 2020, the FTC and the attorneys general for 46 U.S. states lodged antitrust complaints against the social media giant.
The lawsuits focused on Facebook's acquisition of social media companies like Instagram and WhatsApp, alleging that the company acquired the rising rivals to squash competition. One of the potential remedies could be forced divestment from those companies.
The dismissal represents a major blow to government attempts to reign in the power of Big Tech. However, antitrust scrutiny and potential legislation that could curb the power of Silicon Valley tech giants still looms.
Earlier in June, the U.S. House of Representatives introduced a sweeping slate of bills that could, among other things, ban companies like Facebook from acquiring smaller competing firms and prevent them from competing in markets they operate. All pieces of legislation in the antitrust package have been approved, meaning they'll go before the full House for a vote.
FTC Versus Facebook - Dismissal by Mike Wuerthele on Scribd
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Comments
The EU is also suffering from the same illusions.
The problem the courts found was not with the "tangible evidence' but the loosely defined "Personal Social Networking Service" market, that Facebook was suppose to have a "monopoly" in.
This is probably just a partial list .......
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_networking_services
If they want to prove that Facebook is a monopoly, they are going to have to redefine the market that Facebook is in. Like how some define the market as "iOS users", to try to prove that Apple has a "monopoly".
There's many competitors to Facebook however there's only really one competitor to Apple in the mobile market, Google.
It's just that Apple mobile devices are the only ones using iOS. Apple iOS do not compete with Google Android. Apple iDevices competes with other devices on Android and there's plenty of competition there. And no one company here comes close to having a "monopoly". Not like in the old days when Nokia ruled and had nearly 50% of the "smartphone" market, right up until Jobs introduced the iPhone.
With Apple, the vast majority of their profits are derived from selling hardware that uses iOS. Google makes the vast majority of their profits selling targeted advertising that spans across multiple platforms, including on iOS and MacOS. Just how are they "competitors", other than Google with their "Pixel"? If anything, Google is more of the major competitor to Facebook, when it comes to where it matters most ....... advertising revenue.
Most people that claim Apple has a "monopoly" has to make up a market where Apple is naturally the only competitor in it. That would be the "iOS market". But the "iOS market" is nothing but a market made up of people that bought and uses iDevices. That would be like claiming Mercedes has a "monopoly" in the market of consumers driving autos with a "4MATIC" trans.