WASHINGTON— Facebook Inc.
FB -0.10%
On Wednesday, he asked a federal judge to dismiss antitrust lawsuits by the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general, arguing that government authorities have no valid basis to claim that the social media giant is suppressing competition.
The FTC “really ignores the reality of the dynamic and highly competitive high-tech industry in which Facebook operates,” the company said, trying to dismiss the commission’s case. In a second motion, Facebook argued that the case of states “does not claim and cannot claim that their citizens paid higher prices, that production was reduced or that any objective measure of quality decreased as a result of the actions challenged by Facebook. ”.
The company’s filing with the US District Court in Washington marks the first legal bailout since the FTC and 46 states sued Facebook in December for allegations that the company illegally maintained its monopoly status by freezing and buying potential competitors.
The FTC and states say Facebook has chosen to buy companies rather than compete with them, with many of their cases focusing on the company’s previous acquisitions of mobile messaging service WhatsApp and Instagram, the photo-sharing platform.
The FTC has previously allowed Facebook to make those acquisitions, but claims that time has shown that the company used the transactions to consolidate a monopoly position. States claim that the lack of competitors to Facebook has harmed consumers, including by weakening privacy.
Facebook will have to meet a high legal standard to persuade a federal judge to drop cases before the trial. In order to prevail over a claim for rejection, the company must show that the applicants’ factual claims concerning the nature of the market, even if accepted as true, do not establish a valid legal claim.
The FTC and the states are due to respond to the April motions.
New York State Attorney General Letitia James has filed a large antitrust lawsuit against Facebook by the Federal Trade Commission and a bipartisan group of 46 state attorneys general targeting the company’s tactics against competitors. Photo: Saul Loeb / AFP via Getty Images (Video from 09.12.2020
Facebook, in its newspapers, mentioned that the FTC process was voted 3-2 and was introduced at a time when the company was facing constant criticism “for issues unrelated to antitrust concerns.”
The company said the commission did not define a relevant market that Facebook would have dominated. Almost all of Facebook’s revenue comes from advertising, which is an uncompetitive market, the company said.
Facebook also argued that the FTC did not plausibly claim that the company had monopoly power because the government cannot prove that the company increased prices or restricted production, given that “Facebook products are offered for free and in large quantities. unlimited ”.
The company has repeatedly pointed out that the commission previously allowed it to acquire Instagram and WhatsApp in 2012 and 2014, respectively. The FTC reviewed those offers at the time and decided not to contest them.
The FTC and the states claim that these acquisitions have served to eliminate growing independent technology companies, whose popularity could have allowed them to become important rivals on Facebook.
The commission’s case, if successful, could lead to Facebook opening those bids.
Not all federal and state cases focused on Facebook acquisitions. Antitrust applicants also claimed that Facebook had engaged in other anti-competitive conduct, including by cutting access to its platform for third-party developers.
In response, Facebook, in its legal documents, said that the Supreme Court precedent made it clear that it has no obligation to grant other companies access to its platform.
In attacking the case of the states, the company argued that the attorneys general did not have the appropriate legal capacity to bring a case on behalf of their citizens and argued that the states had waited too long to sue.
Write to Brent Kendall at [email protected]
Copyright © 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All rights reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8