1 hour ago
The coalition formed by the FTC and US state prosecutors demands that Facebook cease WhatsApp and Instagram.
Complaints filed by the FTC and 46 US states call for the dismantling of Facebook. The coalition demands in particular that Mark Zuckerberg’s social network abandons WhatsApp and Instagram, two applications bought at a high price several years ago.
On December 9, 2020, the FTC (Federal Trade Commission), equivalent to the repression of fraud in France, and 46 American states filed two complaints against Facebook. The complaints accuse Mark Zuckerberg’s social network of abuse of dominance and illegal monopoly. “The company illegally maintains its monopoly on personal social networking through years of anti-competitive conduct,” the FTC accuses in a statement on its website.
By buying the two applications for several billion dollars, the Californian social network would have knowingly stifled the competition. “Facebook has embarked on a systematic strategy to eliminate what threatens its monopoly,” said the FTC. Under these conditions, the federal body requests the annulment of the two buybacks via a permanent injunction before a federal court. As a reminder, Facebook bought WhatsApp for $ 16 billion in 2014. Two years earlier, the group had taken over Instagram for $ 1 billion.
Towards a dismantling of Facebook?
“Facebook’s actions to consolidate and maintain its monopoly deprive consumers of the benefits of competition. Our aim is to reverse Facebook’s anti-competitive behavior and restore competition so that innovation and free competition can…
Florian Bayard
Read the whole article
–
