Facebook Must Face Amended FTC Claims It Monopolized Social Networking Market, Judge Says

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FTC Facebook Social Networking Monopoly Lawsuit Overview: 

• Who: The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed an amended lawsuit against Facebook. 
• Why: The FTC claims Facebook is guilty of monopolizing the personal social networking market.
• Where: The lawsuit was filed in Columbia federal court.

Facebook was unable to escape for a second time accusations by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that the company has illegally monopolized personal social networking. 

A D.C. federal judge had previously dismissed the complaint against Facebook after determining it wasn’t specific enough about what markets the company had monopolized. 

The FTC’s amended complaint survived, however, with the judge calling it “far more robust and detailed” in an opinion filed Tuesday.

The judge declined to speculate on whether or not the lawsuit would ultimately succeed, though.

“Ultimately, whether the FTC will be able to prove its case and prevail at summary judgment and trial is anyone’s guess,” the judge wrote. “The court declines to engage in such speculation and simply concludes that at this motion-to-dismiss stage, where the FTC’s allegations are treated as true, the agency has stated a plausible claim for relief.”

The FTC’s claims that Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram and WhatsApp allowed it to maintain a monopoly in the social networking market were upheld by the judge, who agreed the acquisitions could constitute as anti-competitive. 

The judge determined that, while the FTC cannot claim that the deals led to a price increase since the applications are free, it did successfully allege that the acquisitions harmed the competitive process.

“The agency will need to substantiate these allegations at later stages in the litigation — likely with expert testimony or statistical analysis — but lack of proof at this juncture does not equate to impermissible speculation, as defendant contends,” the judge wrote.

Judge Tossed Claims Related To Facebook’s Interactions With Third-Party Developers

The judge did decide to toss out claims related to Facebook’s interactions with third-party developers on the platform and an argument from Facebook that FTC Chair Lina Kahn should be refused on account of her history of working with antitrust policy related to tech platforms. 

“There is no indication that Chair Khan’s decision to seek reinstatement of the FTC’s suit against Facebook was based on anything other than her belief in the validity of the allegations,” the opinion said. “Such behavior does not necessitate recusal.”

Facebook will have until Jan. 25 to respond to the FTC’s amended complaint, Law360 reports. 

A class action lawsuit was filed against Meta Platforms earlier this month by parents who argue the company violated minors’ privacy rights by illegally harvesting their biometric data. 

Do you believe Facebook has monopolized the personal social networking market? Let us know in the comments! 

The FTC Facebook Social Networking Monopoly Lawsuit is FTC v. Facebook Inc., Case No. 1:20-cv-03590, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

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