Facebook is asking a federal judge to dismiss antitrust cases against the company, claiming that its “innovative free products deliver value” to consumers and that there is no evidence that they are acting competitively or violating the law.
The Federal Trade Commission and almost every state in the country have filed several lawsuits in December, arguing that Facebook abused its market power when it acquired competing businesses, especially WhatsApp and Instagram, thus preventing competitors from becoming more privacy conscious. alternative to propose consumers.
“Facebook’s actions to entrench and maintain its monopoly deny consumers the benefits of competition,” said Ian Conner, director of the FTC bureau at the time. “Our goal is to bring back Facebook’s competitive edge and restore competition so that innovation and free competition can flourish.”
“No lawsuit similar to this has been brought in the 130-year history of the Sherman Act,” Facebook claims in its motion to reject the FTC lawsuit. Because the mergers were once approved, according to Facebook’s legal argument, they should now be allowed to remain intact because they cannot break the law.
Specifically, however, Facebook claims that the FTC is failing to build a case because it is not an ‘acceptable relevant market’ that can monopolize Facebook. While the FTC defines the segment as ‘personal social networks’, Facebook claims that it is primarily a advertise business and that the advertising market is ‘relentlessly competitive’.
Does it have both ways?
Facebook rejects allegations that acquiring a “small photo sharing service” (Instagram, $ 1 billion, 2012) or “a messaging service only” (WhatsApp, $ 16 billion, 2014) could be competitive because neither company matches with Facebook and to-toe, and the FTC allowed both transactions to continue at the time.
Facebook also refutes evidence found during a congressional investigation that shows Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg explicitly stated that the acquisition of Instagram could help the company neutralize a new competitor.
‘Because there are no facts to harm illegal behavior or consumer harm, the FTC is trying to bolster its allegations with a handbag containing selected internal emails and messages from Facebook executives, presented to show that Facebook is concerned about competitive threats from Instagram. and WhatsApp, ‘writes Facebook. “The FTC combines such soundtracks with relevant facts … but decisive rhetoric and selective quotes that reflect Facebook’s intense focus on addressing all sorts of competitive threats are all the FTC has.”
Therefore, the submission states that the FTC not only filed a lawsuit, but also has no power to uphold the case, because Facebook is not “violating or going to violate antitrust law.”
The states also have no prestige, Facebook argues in its motion (PDF) that the case should be dismissed, as the Attorney General has filed on behalf of their citizens. In addition, the states waited too long to act and “Facebook would be unfairly harmed if the case went ahead,” Facebook claims.