A setback was inflicted on US authorities who accused Facebook of anti-competitive practices. A District of Columbia judge on Monday, June 28, dismissed their complaints filed in late 2020.
The US competition authority (Federal Trade Commission, FTC) and prosecutors representing 48 states and territories believed that Mark Zuckerberg’s company was abusing its dominant position and its full coffers to oust competition; they asked in particular the justice to force the group of Menlo Park (California) to separate from Instagram and WhatsApp.
But according to Judge James Boasberg, “The FTC failed to present enough facts to plausibly establish” that the incriminated company really had monopoly power over social networks. The agency’s complaint “Hardly says anything concrete on the key question of the real power of Facebook (…), it is almost as if the agency expects the court to pass without flinching the widespread idea that Facebook is a monopoly ”, remarks the magistrate in his argument.
Regarding the allegations made by the attorneys general against Facebook’s takeovers of Instagram (in 2012) and WhatsApp (in 2014), the judge considered that, filed in 2020, they were far too late. He also claimed that the policy according to which the company founded by Mark Zuckerberg prevented the transfer of data to competing applications such as Twitter, TikTok or Snapchat, was not contrary to competition laws.
Over $ 1,000 billion in market capitalization
Facebook welcomed these decisions, which “Recognize the flaws of government complaints”. “We compete fairly with other companies every day to gain people’s time and attention”, said a spokesperson.
On Wall Street, the action of the social network ended in stride up 4.2%, exceeding for the first time the symbolic threshold of 1,000 billion dollars (840 billion euros) in capitalization.
Judge Boasberg, however, leaves a door open: if he rejects the attorneys general’s complaint entirely, he is giving the FTC thirty days to present new documents to specifically support his charges. Facebook had filed motions to dismiss the complaints in March, arguing that the FTC’s investigation “Completely ignored the reality of the dynamic and ultra-competitive high-tech industry in which Facebook operates”.
In addition to forcing the group to resell Instagram and WhatsApp, the agency wanted Mark Zuckerberg’s company to stop forcing developers to agree to certain conditions and ask for the green light for any new buyout. Prosecutors, for their part, demanded to be warned of any acquisition over $ 10 million.
Law proposals to force the tech giants
These decisions come at a time when the American authorities are raising their voice against Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon, the famous “GAFA”. Other lawsuits have been launched in recent months against Google for abuse of dominant position, and many investigations into GAFA are still ongoing.
American elected officials are also determined to attack the omnipotence of these giants: a parliamentary committee recently approved several bills seeking, among other things, to force Facebook to let its users leave the social network by taking their contacts with them. and personal information about a competitor.
It is also planned to prohibit the colossi of the tech from acquiring competitors to preserve their market power. These texts still have to go through the House of Representatives, with a Democratic majority, then through the Senate, where their fate is more uncertain.