The US Federal Trade Commission said on Wednesday that a federal judge should allow it to pursue antitrust action against Facebook (FB.O) because the business has “interfered with the competitive process by targeting nascent threats through exclusionary conduct.”
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) updated its antitrust case against Facebook, now known as Meta Platforms, in August, adding further details to the allegations that the social media corporation crushed or acquired rivals and seeking a judge to order it to sell Instagram and WhatsApp.
In a filing with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the FTC said that for more than a decade, Facebook’s market share – for example, more than 70% of daily active users – exceed the levels needed to establish a monopoly power.
“The FTC has once again brought a monopolization case without a monopolist. Its claims ignore the reality that people have more choices than ever before in how they share, connect, and communicate, and its second complaint should be dismissed just like the first,” a Meta spokesperson said in a statement.
The FTC also claimed that Facebook’s request that Chair Lina Khan be recused from voting on the updated complaint was improper. The FTC stated that it was filed before she was appointed to the commission and that the lawsuit will be decided by the court, not the commission.
Khan had prejudged the case due of her previous work, according to Facebook.
