Facebook Looks To Have Its Antitrust Suits Dismissed

Facebook has asked a court to dismiss state and federal antitrust lawsuits that accuse it of abusing its market power in social networking to crush smaller competitors, reported The Wall Street Journal.

The social media giant stated Wednesday, March 10, that the complaints “do not credibly claim” that its conduct harmed either consumers or market competition. 

The antitrust suits, filed in December by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and 48 states, are seeking remedies that could include a forced spinoff of the social network’s popular Instagram and WhatsApp services.

“As we said when the FTC and the state attorneys general announced these lawsuits, people around the world use our products not because they have to, but because we make their lives better,” Facebook said in a statement.

The FTC suit asserts that Facebook has engaged in a “systematic strategy” to eliminate its competition, including by purchasing smaller up-and-coming rivals like Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014. New York Attorney General Letitia James, in announcing the states complaint, echoed this sentiment, saying that Facebook “used its monopoly power to crush smaller rivals and snuff out competition, all at the expense of everyday users.”

The FTC previously allowed Facebook to make those acquisitions, but argues that time has shown that the company has used the deals to entrench a monopoly position. The states argue that a lack of competitors to Facebook has led to consumer harm, including by weakening privacy protections.

Facebook will have to meet a high legal standard to convince a federal judge to throw out the cases before trial. In order to prevail on a motion to dismiss, the company must show that the plaintiffs’ factual allegations about the nature of the marketplace, even if accepted as true, don’t establish a valid legal claim.