FTC wants to challenge Facebook on competition laws

The US competition authority is preparing a case against tech giant and social media company Facebook, says an insider. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has been smitten with Facebook for a year.

Facebook wants Instagram and WhatsApp to know if Facebook has used its dominant market position to shut down competition, which also includes WhatsApp and Instagram. The source doesn’t want to be mentioned because the FTC’s investigation is confidential. According to the initiates, no final decision has yet been taken on what is happening with the research.

In order for it to go to trial, a majority of the five FTC commissioners must vote for it. Such a case would be a significant scaling-up in the US government’s fight against the tech giants, which are increasingly in Washington’s sights due to their dominant market positions. The Justice Department is preparing to indict Alphabet, Google’s parent company, within a few weeks.

Facebook had no comment. The FTC also refused to comment. Business newspaper The Wall Street Journal wrote earlier about the preparation of a possible lawsuit against Facebook.

Facebook top man Mark Zuckerberg was questioned by the FTC last month in connection with the investigation. Facebook Instagram and WhatsApp took over competition law in order to find out if it has violated competition law. During an interview by the US parliament along with other tech-bonzen in July, Zuckerberg defended the deals and said that Facebook has a lot of competition to do with.

The big technology companies are increasingly under the magnifying glass of the US authorities. A Senate committee argued on Tuesday that Google was abusing its market position to suppress competition and gain even more market share.

You might also like More from author

Comments are closed.