The seemingly untouchable tech behemoth is now facing its second major offensive this year, after the announcement made by the Federal Trade Commission that the landmark antitrust lawsuits and New York Attorney General Letitia James is going for the social media giant.
In October, the Justice Department also sued Google for the abuse of its dominance in online search and advertising, which is the most significant attempt of the government to buttress competition since its historic case against Microsoft almost 20 years ago.
Apple and Amazon have also been under investigation not only in Congress but also by the federal authorities due to the alleged anticompetitive conduct.
In the latest case, the FTC or the Federal Trade Commission specifically asked a court to force Facebook of selling off its messaging services WhatsApp and Instagram.
James, the New York Attorney General echoed the idea in more general terms and noted at a press conference that it is really important that they regulate this predatory acquisition of companies in order to restore the confidence of investors in the market.
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The Federal Trade Commission stated that the social media giant's systematic strategy finds a way to eliminate its competition. This strategy involved purchasing it's up and coming rivals, including WhatsApp and Instagram, Tech Crunch reported.
In her press conference, James shared that the Social Media giant, Facebook, used its monopoly power in crushing smaller rivals and secured any future competition, all at the expense of everyday users.
Due to privacy violations and instituted new oversight and restrictions on its business, the FTC fined Facebook $5 billion a year ago, 2019.
Despite being the largest amount that the agency has ever levied on tech companies, the fine has still no visible impact on the business side of Facebook.
According to the Washington Post, The actions of the Government were considered by Facebook as 'revisionist history' which for them punishes successful businesses and noted that the FTC cleared the WhatsApp and Instagram acquisitions years ago.
Jennifer Newstead, the Facebook general counsel mentioned in a statement that echoed the response to a recent congressional antitrust probe of the company that the government wants a do-over, which sends a chilling warning to American business that no sale is ever final.
Being the biggest social network in the world with 2.7 billion users and a company with a market value of close to $800 billion, Facebook also puts CEO Mark Zuckerberg in the fifth spot of the world's richest individual, Miami Herald reported.
James alleged that Facebook had a practice of making its site open to third-party app developers, then abruptly cuts off developers that it saw as a threat.
The latest lawsuit involves 46 states, Guam, and the District of Columbia, wherein they accuse Facebook of anti-competitive conduct and the usage of its market dominance in harvesting consumer data and reap a fortune in advertising revenues.
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