In two motions filed on Wednesday, Facebook asked the courts to reject two cases of open competition filed by the federal government and a coalition of states.
The Federal Trade Commission and a group of state attorney generals filed separate lawsuits against Facebook last December, accusing the technology giant of engaging in anti-competitive behavior. The two lawsuits make similar claims, claiming that Facebook bought Instagram and WhatsApp to crush the threat that the two applications posed to the company’s business. In addition, attorneys general accused Facebook of using its market dominance to stem the growth of competing services.
The FTC case also calls on the courts to turn the acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp on Facebook into separate companies once again.
In Facebook’s motion to close the cases, he claims the lawsuits claim that the two nascent applications were “potential” competitors, rather than a real and urgent threat to Facebook’s business. The FTC declined to comment.
“Facebook is wrong in the law and wrong in our complaint,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement to The Verge Wednesday. “We are confident in our case, which is why almost every state in this country has joined our bipartisan process to end Facebook’s illegal conduct. We will continue to defend the millions of consumers and many small businesses that have been harmed by Facebook’s illegal behavior. “
“Antitrust laws are designed to promote competition and protect consumers,” said Facebook in a blog post on Wednesday. “These complaints also do not claim that our conduct has harmed.”
As the FTC released the acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp at the time, Facebook also argues that the commission does not have sufficient grounds to reverse this decision. “Facebook is not aware of any comparable, let alone successful, challenge from the FTC to a long-overdue acquisition that the FTC itself released,” says the Facebook document.
Facebook is at the center of a series of antitrust investigations carried out by the federal government, states and Congress. Last month, the House Judiciary Committee’s antitrust subcommittee held its first hearing on the field of technology after a 16-month investigation by companies like Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google. That investigation spawned a report by Democrats calling for structural remedies for Facebook’s business, potentially leading to a breakup. The hearing marked the final stage of the committee’s work, holding a second round of hearings on how to reform the United States antitrust law applied to technology companies.
House and Senate committees plan to hold hearings this week, and new legislation is expected to pass before the end of spring.
Updated on 21/03/21 at 15:12 ET: It included a statement from New York Attorney General Letitia James.