Facebook again asks judge to dismiss US lawsuit to force Instagram and WhatsApp sale

WASHINGTON, Oct.4 (Reuters) – Facebook Inc (FB.O) on Monday asked a judge to dismiss the U.S. government’s revised antitrust case that seeks to force the social media giant to sell Instagram and WhatsApp.

Facebook said in a court filing that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) had failed to provide a “plausible factual basis to qualify Facebook as an illegal monopolist.” The company added that it appeared the FTC “had no basis for its bare claim that Facebook has or had a monopoly.”

The social media giant has called for the lawsuit to be dismissed with bias, which would make it harder for the agency to change the lawsuit. The FTC declined to comment.

U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg for the District of Columbia ruled in June that the FTC’s initial complaint filed in December did not prove that Facebook had monopoly power in the social media market. Read more

The FTC’s amended complaint, filed in August, added more details about its accusation that the social media company crushed or bought competitors and again asked Boasberg to order the sale of Instagram and WhatsApp .

The FTC has long argued in its revised complaint that Facebook dominates the U.S. personal social media market with more than 65% monthly active users since 2012.

The Facebook filing said the FTC’s complaint was “at odds with the business reality of intense competition with burgeoning rivals like TikTok and dozens of other attractive options for consumers.”

The FTC voted 3-2 depending on the parties in August to file the amended lawsuit and rejected Facebook’s request that the agency’s president, Lina Khan, be challenged.

In its petition, Facebook argued that the FTC’s vote to file the amended complaint was invalid because Khan participated.

It included a long series of statements from Khan, made before she became FTC chairman, which criticized the social media giant. In a series of tweets from December 2020, she praised the lawsuits brought by the FTC and state attorneys general, saying “hopes this marks another step forward in growing efforts to rehabilitate antitrust laws.”

Facebook also notes that the FTC is suing to overturn mergers it approved: Instagram, which it bought in 2012 for $ 1 billion, and WhatsApp, which it bought in 2014 for $ 19 billion.

“The FTC is challenging acquisitions that the agency authorized after its own contemporary review …” the motion reads. “The case is entirely without legal or factual support. This is as true now as it used to be.”

Facebook also included a dissent from FTC Commissioner Christine Wilson, a Republican, who voted to oppose filing the amended complaint because the FTC had raised no objections to the Instagram and WhatsApp agreements.

“The fictitious FTC market ignores competitive reality: Facebook competes vigorously with TikTok, iMessage, Twitter, Snapchat, LinkedIn, YouTube and countless others to help people share, connect, communicate or just be entertained,” he said. a Facebook spokesperson said. “The FTC cannot credibly claim that Facebook has monopoly power because there is no such power.”

Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Lisa Shumaker

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