Facebook Responds to Company Breakup Calls

Facebook pressed a court to dismiss a pair of competition lawsuits filed by the US Federal Trade Commission and a coalition of 46 states which sought to break up the company. The social network giant argues that the allegations against it were not credible.

Facebook claims in a blog post that the actions failed to demonstrate harm to either competition or consumers and therefore did not amount to plausible complaints. The company argued in a court filing the FTC did not show the company held a monopoly in a defined market or engaged in unlawful exclusionary conduct, adding an allegation consumers might have had even better products without the social media company is conclusory, speculative and entirely insufficient to meet its pleading obligations.

In a separate filing, Facebook blasted the 46 US states’ case as an afterthought, claiming it failed to demonstrate the company’s acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp were illegal. The FTC and states filed separate actions in December 2020 accusing Facebook of abusing its dominant position in the market and seeking a divestment of assets including Instagram and WhatsApp among other actions to help restore competition.