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Facebook filed a motion on Monday to dismiss the Federal Trade Commission’s revised antitrust lawsuit against the company, saying the agency’s complaint still lacked evidence that the company had violated antitrust laws.
In a case filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Facebook said the agency failed to provide adequate evidence and analysis that the company had a monopoly and harmed rivals due to its dominant position. Judge in charge of the case, James E. Boasberg, said in June that the agency did not establish Facebook as a monopoly in its initial lawsuit, but gave the agency the option of amending its complaint with analysis further.
“This court gave the agency a second chance to make a valid claim,” the company said in its file. “But the same loophole that was fatal to the original FTC complaint remains: the amended complaint still does not plead any fact that plausibly establishes that Facebook has, and at all relevant times, had monopoly power.”
Facebook’s request to dismiss the case was widely expected. The company’s chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, has vowed to fight any attempt by the government to hinder the company through antitrust measures.
The FTC, under the new leadership of Lina Khan, filed the case in August with the same general arguments and with more in-depth analysis of market share and how Facebook used the Instagram and WhatsApp mergers to ” buy or bury ‘the competition. The agency also alleged that Facebook was blocking rival apps from connecting to the Facebook platform, preventing competition from gaining access to Facebook’s vast user base. The agency said in its lawsuit that Facebook should be dismantled.
The judge has until mid-November to respond to the company’s request for dismissal.
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