Facebook is asking a federal court to dismiss a revised complaint against it by the Federal Trade Commission, arguing that the agency has not provided enough evidence to show that the company is a monopoly.
In a motion filed Monday in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Facebook said the FTC failed to prove that it has a monopoly in the B次元官网网址減ersonal social networking spaceB次元官网网址� because no reliable data exists to show the size of the market or of FacebookB次元官网网址檚 share of it.
B次元官网网址淭he FTCB次元官网网址檚 fictional market ignores the competitive reality: Facebook competes vigorously with TikTok, iMessage, Twitter, Snapchat, LinkedIn, YouTube, and countless others to help people share, connect, communicate or simply be entertained,B次元官网网址� Facebook said in a statement. B次元官网网址淭he FTC cannot credibly claim Facebook has monopoly power because no such power exists.B次元官网网址�
FacebookB次元官网网址檚 motion was filed on the day it and its Instagram and WhatsApp platforms suffered a worldwide outage. It also came a day after whistleblower Frances Haugen, a former Facebook product manager, went public on CBSB次元官网网址檚 B次元官网网址�60 MinutesB次元官网网址� program to discuss internal documents exposing the companyB次元官网网址檚 awareness of harms caused by its products and decisions.
A federal judge in June dismissed earlier antitrust lawsuits brought against Facebook by the agency and a broad coalition of state attorneys general that were among multiplying efforts by federal and state regulators to rein in tech titansB次元官网网址� market power.
The FTCB次元官网网址檚 new, revised complaint filed in August alleges that the social network giant pursued a laser-focused strategy to B次元官网网址渂uy or buryB次元官网网址� rivals to suppress competition.
U.S. District Judge James Boasberg had ruled in June that the FTCB次元官网网址檚 original lawsuit was B次元官网网址渓egally insufficientB次元官网网址� and didnB次元官网网址檛 provide enough evidence to prove Facebook was a monopoly. He dismissed the statesB次元官网网址� separate complaint outright.
But his ruling only dismissed the FTCB次元官网网址檚 complaint, not the case, giving the agency a chance to file a revised complaint. In the new filing, the FTC laid out a detailed analysis to substantiate its monopoly power claim.
B次元官网网址淒irect evidence, including historical events and market realitiesB次元官网网址� confirms the allegation, the complaint says. The harm to consumers from the lack of competition B次元官网网址渋s particularly severe,B次元官网网址� it says.
The FTC did not have a comment on FacebookB次元官网网址檚 motion to dismiss.
B次元官网网址� Barbara Ortutay THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
