WASHINGTON— Facebook Inc.
FB -0.14%
on Wednesday, he asked a federal judge to reject antitrust lawsuits by the federal trade commission and state attorney generals, arguing that government officials have no valid basis for claiming that the social media giant is suppressing competition.
The FTC “totally ignores the reality of the dynamic and intensely competitive high-tech industry in which Facebook operates,” said the company when trying to reject the commission’s case. In a second motion, Facebook argued that the states’ case “does not claim and cannot claim that its citizens have paid higher prices, that production has been reduced or that any objective measure of quality has decreased as a result of Facebook’s contested actions.”
The company’s records in the United States District Court in Washington mark its first legal attempt since the FTC and 46 states sued Facebook in December on allegations that the company illegally preserved its monopoly status by freezing and buying potential competitors.
The FTC and the states allege that Facebook chose to buy companies instead of competing with them, with many of its cases focusing on previous acquisitions of mobile messaging company WhatsApp and Instagram, the photo-sharing platform.
The FTC previously allowed Facebook to make these acquisitions, but argues that time has shown that the company used the deals to consolidate a monopoly position. States argue that Facebook’s lack of competitors has caused consumer harm, including by weakening privacy protections.
Facebook will have to comply with a high legal standard to convince a federal judge to reject the cases before the trial. To prevail over the filing request, the company must demonstrate that the complainants’ factual claims about the nature of the market, even if accepted as true, do not constitute a valid legal action.
The FTC and states are expected to respond to motions in April.
New York State Attorney General Letitia James outlined a broad antitrust case against Facebook by the Federal Trade Commission and a bipartisan group of 46 state attorney generals, targeting the company’s tactics against competitors. Photo: Saul Loeb / AFP via Getty Images (12/12/20 video
In its newspapers, Facebook noted that the FTC lawsuit came in a 3-2 vote and was moved at a time when the company faced ruthless criticism “for issues totally unrelated to antitrust issues”.
The company said the commission did not define a relevant market that Facebook is supposed to dominate. Almost all of Facebook’s revenue comes from advertising, which is a relentlessly competitive market, the company said.
Facebook also argued that the FTC did not plausibly claim that the company had monopoly power, because the government cannot show that the company raised prices or restricted production, as “Facebook products are offered free of charge and in quantities. unlimited ”.
The company has repeatedly emphasized that the commission previously allowed the acquisition of Instagram and WhatsApp in 2012 and 2014, respectively. The FTC reviewed these deals at the time and decided not to challenge them.
The FTC and the states say that these acquisitions served to eliminate rising independent technology companies, whose popularity could have allowed them to become major rivals on Facebook.
The case of the commission, if successful, could cause Facebook to have to undo those deals.
Not all federal and state cases have focused on Facebook’s acquisitions. Antitrust authorities also claimed that Facebook was involved in other anti-competitive behavior, including cutting access to its platform for third-party developers.
In response, Facebook in its legal documents said the Supreme Court precedent made it clear that it has no obligation to give other companies access to its platform.
In attacking the states’ case, the company argued that the attorney generals had no legal standing to open a case on behalf of its citizens and claimed that the states waited too long to prosecute.
Write to Brent Kendall at [email protected]
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