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Judge gives FTC second chance to challenge Facebook on antitrust grounds


FTC Commissioner nominee Lina M. Khan testifies during the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, April 21, 2021 .

Graeme Jennings | AFP | beautiful pictures

A judge has given the Federal Trade Commission a second chance to pursue an illegal monopoly charge against Facebook, refuse the company motion to remove lawsuit in a new filing on Tuesday.

US District Judge James Boasberg made an earlier offer by Facebook to remove during the summer, but allows the FTC the opportunity to amend its claim and try again. He also dismissed a similar lawsuit from the union of state attorneys general without giving a chance to reconsider, even though the states have indicated that they intend to appeal the ruling.

“The Federal Trade Commission’s first antitrust lawsuit against Facebook, Inc. has hit the ground running, as this Court dismissed the Complaint last June,” Boasberg wrote in the filing today. Tuesday. He said while the Commission’s core theory remained the same in his updated complaint, “However, the facts alleged this time to underpin those theories have been more robust and detailed. much more than in the past, particularly with regard to the contours of the alleged being exclusively Defendant’s.”

Shares of Facebook Meta owners virtually unchanged and remains positive news of the day as of Tuesday afternoon.

Boasberg initially dismissed the FTC’s complaint because he argued that it could not legitimately allege Facebook’s monopoly power in what it defined as the private social networking services market. That market definition sought to exclude other social media platforms such as YouTube, which is used primarily for watching videos, or LinkedIn, which is used for professional networking.

While Boasberg maintains the FTC may still face challenges in proving its allegations, he wrote Tuesday that “it has now cleared the plea bar and can continue to explore.”

Boasberg said FTC achieve this by providing all the facts alleged to establish a legitimate monopoly power of Facebook in the market, claiming their market share is protected by barriers import and alleged it “knowingly maintain” dominance through anti-competitive behavior, particularly through the acquisition of Instagram and WhatsApp.

The judge also rejected Facebook’s argument that the FTC’s vote to file an amendment complaint should be invalidated because the company believes that FTC Chairman Lina Khan should have repurposed herself. Facebook argued Khan’s posts and past work showed her to have been held liable, which should have been grounds for denial, but Khan still participated in the vote.

Boasberg wrote: “The court believes that controversy fell short of its objective, as Khan was acting in a prosecutorial capacity, as opposed to a judicial role, in relation to the vote.

However, Boasberg dealt a small blow to the FTC, saying it could not continue its claims that Facebook’s interoperability policies for developers on its platform helped it maintain maintain its dominance. He said that’s because Facebook abandoned the policies in 2018 and allegedly stopped enforcing them even earlier.

“Ultimately, whether the FTC can prove its case and win the summary judgment and trial is anyone’s guess,” the judge wrote. “The court declined to participate in such speculations and simply concluded that at this transition to dismissal stage where the FTC’s allegations are held to be true, the agency has issued its primary relief request.” under Section 2 of the Sherman Act.”

A spokesperson for Meta was not immediately available for comment.

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