Facebook Anti-Trust Case: Here’s what you need to know

By
Rex Rose
Facebook Anti-Trust Case: Here's what you need to know
There was Facebook The twins hit with a lawsuit By the Federal Trade Commission and by the attorney generals of dozens of states on Wednesday in the most serious challenges ever against the Silicon Valley giant. This case could potentially lead to the collapse of Facebook.

Here’s what you need to know.

The FTC and the states abuse its dominance over the digital marketplace on Facebook and engage in anti-competitive behavior.

Ian Conner, director of competition at FTC’s Bureau of Competition, said in a statement: “Facebook’s actions to include and maintain its monopoly deny consumers the advantage of competition.” “Our goal is to reverse Facebook’s conflicting practices and restore competition so that innovation and free competition can thrive.”

Will Facebook break down?

That is what the government and regulators want. Officials are specifically seeking to join separate companies for Facebook’s two largest apps in the social media empire.

The FTC is seeking a permanent ruling in federal court that requires Facebook to release assets, including Instagram – that is Bought in 2012 for 1 billion – and WhatsApp – Bought in 2014 for 19 billion – Breaking Facebook effectively as we know it.

States are also asking the company to break up if a court deems it appropriate.

However, there is no guarantee. Facebook has vowed to “defend itself” against the lawsuit. And any decision on whether to break up the company will take years to implement.

What does Facebook say?

Facebook has pushed back allegations in lawsuits, with its VP and General Counsel Jennifer Newsstead criticizing the FTC’s investigation into the WhatsApp and Instagram deals, seeing the agency itself “wipe out these edits years ago.”

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NewsTeadDay added that the government is now seeking a d-over and is sending a chilling warning to American businesses that no sale is ever final.

But William Kovasic, the former chairman of the FTC, told CNN Business that in light of the new evidence, everyone has the right to change their mind about the later acquisitions.

The U.S. government has said in a groundbreaking lawsuit that Facebook must be dismantled
Facebook, like that Big tech rival Google, Argues that people choose its services because they don’t have but they want to. The social media company has nicely presented its speech issues as Washington’s scrutiny of Washington has increased, stabilizing on the narrative that Facebook welcomes regulation, but breaking too tight could give other countries like China a competitive edge in fast-moving technology.

“We compete hard and we compete well,” Zuckerberg told employees in an internal memo shortly after the legal action was announced. “I’m proud of it.”

How did we get here?

It has been more than a year since the lawsuit was filed in its current form.

Letia James, Attorney General of New York Announced last September She was leading several of her counterparts in other states in Facebook’s investigation for anticoagulant practice, which was signed a month later by state or 47 attorneys in the investigation. James said at the time that he was concerned that Facebook could jeopardize customer data, reduce the quality of consumer choices and increase the cost of advertising.
Mark Zuckerberg has been the CEO of Facebook Roasted several times In the months that followed, his company was accused of misconduct, including by legislators and more recently By FTC.
It’s not just Facebook. U.S. The government has stepped up scrutiny of Big Tech companies and their strengths this year, with Zuckerberg appearing before Congress in July, in which CEOs along with CEOs were interviewed. Google (Google), Apple (AAPL) And Amazon (AMZN).
Google is already coping Antitrust claim own Entered by the Department of Justice in October, its own.

What happens next?

In the short term, not much.

Anti-trust cases, especially cases against Facebook, often take years. One of the most high-profile cases Landmark claim against micro .ft In 1998, it took about two years Reach the verdict That breaks the giant of tech.
And that breakup never really happened – the micro .ft and the Justice Department Reached a compromise In November 2001, instead the company imposed a number of restrictions on how it sold and licensed its products.

Zuckerberg sought to reassure Facebook employees that nothing significant in his internal memo on Wednesday would change immediately. He said the company plans to fight the allegations in court and in the short term it “does not expect any impact on individual teams or roles”.

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“Today’s news is a step in the process that could take years to complete,” he added.

Brian Fung contributed to this report.

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