: Facebook Hit by New Antitrust Case as Federal Trade Commission Seeks to Salvage Landmark Lawsuit #WorldNEWS U. S. antitrust officials refiled their monopoly lawsuit against Facebook Inc. , seeking

Facebook Hit by New Antitrust Case as Federal Trade Commission Seeks to Salvage Landmark Lawsuit #WorldNEWS
U. S. antitrust officials refiled their monopoly lawsuit against Facebook Inc. , seeking to salvage the landmark case that a judge threw out in June.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Thursday filed the new complaint in federal court in Washington, alleging that Facebook violated antitrust laws by buying Instagram and WhatsApp in order to eliminate them as competitors. As in the previous complaint, the FTC is asking the court to unwind the acquisitions.
“After failing to compete with new innovators, Facebook illegally bought or buried them when their popularity became an existential threat,” Holly Vedova, the acting director of the agency’s competition bureau, said in a statement. “This conduct is no less anticompetitive than if Facebook had bribed emerging app competitors not to compete. ”
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Read more: Facebooks Surprise Antitrust Victory Could Inspire Congress to Overhaul the Rules Entirely
Facebook said on Twitter that it was reviewing the complaint.
The agency is trying to revive the case after U. S. District Judge James Boasberg in June dismissed it, saying the agency failed to provide enough detail to support its claim that Facebook has a monopoly in the social-media market. Boasberg had given the FTC 30 days to fix the error and refile, and the commission won an extension until Aug. 19.
The Facebook case, first filed in December, presents an early test for FTC Chair Lina Khan, who was named head of the agency in June by President Joe Biden. Khan is a leading advocate for taking a more forceful antitrust stance against companies and is already taking steps to bolster the agency’s authority.
Facebook sought to bar Khan from participating in the case, arguing that her academic writing about the company and her work on the House antitrust panel, which investigated Facebook and other tech platforms, showed she is biased.
The FTC said in its statement that the agency’s general counsel reviewed Facebook’s recusal petition and dismissed it. The FTC voted 3-2 to file the amended complaint, with Khan joining the agency’s two other Democrats in favor of the case, which the Republican commissioners voted against.
“As the case will be prosecuted before a federal judge, the appropriate constitutional due process protections will be provided to the company,” the FTC said.
The lawsuit is part of a broad effort by lawmakers and competition enforcers to rein in the power of the biggest U. S. tech companies. Besides the Facebook case, the Justice Department and state attorneys general across the country have multiple lawsuits pending against Google, while Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill are pushing forward with a raft of bills that would impose new restrictions on how the companies do business.