San Francisco:
A federal judge ruled Tuesday that the US regulators’ reworked antitrust case against Facebook can go ahead, saying the complaint was more robust and detailed than the version it denied last year.
The US Federal Trade Commission has alleged that the social media giant, which has renamed itself Meta, has an illegal monopoly by acquiring potential competitors it now owns, such as Instagram and WhatsApp.
Judge James Boasberg’s ruling comes as a blow to Facebook, which came under renewed scrutiny last year after a whistleblower leaked documents showing executives knew the harm their services could do to teens, democracy and user well-being.
The FTC “may face a lengthy task to prove its allegations,” but the case will not be dismissed, ruled Boasberg, who threw out the original suit last year.
His ruling on Tuesday denied a push from Facebook, which did not respond to a request for comment, to also dismiss the reworked complaint.
“The Commission continues to claim that Facebook has long held a monopoly in the market… and that it has unlawfully maintained that monopoly,” Boasberg wrote.
“However, the facts asserted this time to bolster those theories are much more robust and detailed than before,” he added.
The judge also rejected Facebook’s argument that the case should be dropped because the committee’s decision to amend and review was fueled by a bias against the company by FTC chairman Lina Khan.
That statement missed the mark, the judge reasoned, because Khan is a prosecutor, not a judge bound by neutrality.
“Ultimately, the question is whether the FTC will be able to prove its case and prevail in summary proceedings and trial,” the judge said in the ruling.
In the amended complaint, the FTC said that Facebook’s dominance is “protected by high barriers to entry” and that “even a newcomer with a superior product cannot succeed against the overwhelming network effects that an established personal social network has.”
The lawsuit, which could take years to go through the courts without a settlement, calls on the court to order “disposal of assets”, including WhatsApp and Instagram, to restore competition.
Boasberg said in his resignation last year that the agency’s first lawsuit lacked evidence, particularly in defining the market that Facebook allegedly monopolized.
(This story was not edited by DailyExpertNews staff and was generated automatically from a syndicated feed.)