Facebook Pushes for FTC Lawsuit Dismissal

Facebook has filed a second motion to dismiss the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) lawsuit accusing the social media behemoth of monopolistic behavior, CNBC reported.

In its motion, Facebook said the FTC’s vote to file an amended complaint was invalid because Chairwoman Lina Khan should have recused herself from the matter because she was part of a House Judiciary subcommittee on antitrust, according to the report.

A federal judge threw out the first FTC claim that Facebook violated antitrust laws with monopolistic powers, but the commission filed an amended complaint. In between the two filings, though, Facebook asked for Khan’s recusal, saying she already had her mind made up about the matter, the report stated.

The FTC dismissed the petition after its Office of General Counsel “carefully reviewed” it, saying “the appropriate constitutional due process protections will be provided to the company,” according to the report.

Facebook said Khan’s participation in the House Judiciary subcommittee on antitrust “at the very least creates the appearance that the Chair has prejudged the facts and cannot be unbiased or impartial,” the report stated.

The report in question said Facebook, Amazon, Apple and Google should be considered monopolies. Khan wrote the Google portion of the subcommittee’s report, according to CNBC.

Facebook said Khan’s participation in the 3-2 FTC vote against the company “violates both basic due process safeguards and federal ethics rules,” per the report. Facebook also said the FTC didn’t support its claims against it regarding monopolistic behavior, saying it “cherry-picked” data from Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat to support its claims.

The amended FTC complaint against Facebook alleged that the company failed to create another avenue for its mobile features and instead “resorted to an illegal buy-or-bury scheme to maintain its dominance,” PYMNTS reported previously.

Read more: Facebook Hit With Amended FTC Anti-Competition Complaint

Facebook also bought rivals that exceeded its own technological capabilities, according to the FTC’s claims and persuaded app developers to work for its platform, watched them and then “buried them when they became competitive threats.”