Facebook faces antitrust investigation by states led by New York AG

New York State Attorney General Letitia James opened Friday a multi-party antitrust investigation on Facebook, applying a new layer of tedious regulatory control to scandalous social networks.

The launch of the survey comes as part of increased federal and state oversight on large technology companies including Facebook, Google, Amazon and Apple. The state-level survey will look at a wide range of Facebook activities, including the treatment of user data, its effects on consumer choice and the price of advertising, the New York Attorney General said in a statement. communicated.

"Even the largest social media platform in the world must respect the law and respect consumers. I am proud to lead a bipartisan coalition of attorneys general to determine if Facebook has stifled competition and put users at risk, "said James. "We will use all the survey tools at our disposal to determine whether Facebook's actions may have endangered consumer data, reduced the quality of consumer choice, or increased the price of advertising."

Facebook did not immediately respond to our request for comment.

In addition to James, the attorneys general of Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee and the District of Columbia will be part of the investigation team, according to James' office.

This survey adds to the actions taken at the federal level which really started this summer. On July 23, the US Department of Justice announced the opening of an extensive survey of "market-leading online platforms" to determine whether they "engaged in practices that reduced the competition, hindered innovation or harmed consumers'.

The next day, Facebook confirmed that it was facing antitrust investigations by both the Federal Trade Commission and the US Department of Justice. The revelation followed the FTC's earlier announcement of the same day that sentenced Facebook to a record $ 5 billion fine for breach of privacy, in part as a result of the Cambridge Analytica scandal. While the Republican-led FTC described its settlement with Facebook as historical and the restrictions on the company's privacy and transparency practices are "radical," the Democrats said the sanctions were inadequate. .

State-level measures against big tech companies would not be limited to Facebook. According to the Washington Post, Google should also face an investigation of "more than half" of state attorneys general. This survey would be announced Monday.

Despite the continued attention of regulators, large technology companies have not yet experienced any lasting consequences that would disrupt their operations or significantly reduce their bottom line. Indeed, the share price of Facebook jumped 1.8% after the FTC revealed its fine. Maybe this one will stick?