Justice Ministry Launches Own Facebook Inquiry with AG Barr

It seems that Facebook continues to break records of all kinds. Traditionally, the regulators of the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice agree to conduct antitrust investigations against a company, one at a time, deciding in advance who should take the lead. According to a new report, however, the Attorney General of the United States has decided that a federal inquiry is not enough.

US Attorney General William Prod's "Prodding" has led the DOJ to launch his own antitrust investigation on Facebook, sources told Bloomberg News. The GM would focus on conduct that is not included in the FTC's ongoing investigation.

The FTC Competition Bureau and the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice share authority to enforce antitrust laws in the United States. When a specific case arises, such as a high-stakes merger project or a complaint against a single company such as Facebook, the two agencies usually enter into an agreement that allows them to place that ball in one land or another – and not both. .

Facebook confirmed in July that it was the target of an FTC antitrust investigation. The commission would look at anti-competitive actions that Facebook would have taken to cancel, intimidate, or obviously gain potential competition in the marketplace.

Competition between regulators

Facebook might well be stifling competition, but the competition between regulators to investigate Facebook – and some of its brethren of the scan – certainly looks robust.

Media reports surfaced in June, saying the FTC and DOJ had opted for a "divide and conquer" approach to Big Tech's antitrust investigations: the FTC would attack Amazon and Facebook, and the DOJ would be interested in Google and Apple.

Bloomberg sources said that a kind of territorial dispute had emerged between the two agencies, whose officials had exchanged letters about it. Senators urged FTC president Joseph Simons and antitrust chief Makan Delrahim about the turf war earlier this month, wondering if the agencies were simply wasting their resources by repeating d & # 39; efforts.

The Justice Ministry confirmed in July that its antitrust division was actively investigating widespread concerns that "consumers, businesses and entrepreneurs have expressed concerns" about "market-leading online platforms". The agency has not named names, but it is generally considered that this list of "market-leading" platforms includes Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google. "Social media", however, was mentioned as a target.

Federal regulators, no matter how they solve the problem, are hugely successful.

Attorneys General of several states launched their own antitrust investigation on Facebook earlier this month. New York Attorney General Letitia James said the investigation would determine "whether their actions endanger consumer data, reduce the quality of consumer choice or increase the price of advertising."

Congress, too, has embarked on the fray. The anti-trust subcommittee of the House opened an investigation in June on "abusive behavior of the guardians of the platform", including Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Google. The committee recently sent a massive request for data to the four companies seeking to register a decade or so of documents. The Facebook letter (PDF) looks for records of several of Facebook's previous acquisitions, including Onavo, WhatsApp and Instagram, as well as other analyzes, communications and legal filings.

International regulators are also working hard. According to media reports, the EU's competition regulator has opened its own antitrust investigation on Facebook, and member states such as Germany are also taking action.