Trouble with Whatsapp and Instagram: USA sues against Facebook "monopoly"

Trouble with Whatsapp and Instagram
USA sues against Facebook "monopoly"

With the takeover of its competitors like Whatsapp and Instagram, the internet giant Facebook is said to have built up an "illegal monopoly". The US consumer protection agency and almost all states are now suing this. One of the proposed measures – the split of the group.

The US government and 48 states are suing Facebook on allegations of unfair competition. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and a non-partisan alliance of states led by New York Justice Secretary Letitia James accuse Facebook of having built an illegal monopoly in their respective lawsuits. Among other things, the takeover of the photo service Instagram in 2012 and the chat service WhatsApp in 2014 by Facebook are denounced.

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The FTC accuses Facebook of having pursued a "systematic strategy" through these acquisitions in order to eliminate threats to its own monopoly. One possible measure proposed in the lawsuit is to force Facebook to sell individual business units. In recent years, the group had already brought together the technical infrastructure behind the platform of its online network, as well as Instagram and WhatsApp. That would make a split technically more difficult.

New York Attorney General James said: "Facebook has used its monopoly power to crush smaller rivals and wipe out competition, all at the expense of everyday users." The lawsuit is intended to send a clear message to Facebook and other companies: that attempts to stifle competition, impede innovation, or curtail privacy protection would be pursued with vigor by the state justice ministers.

Zuckerberg also wanted to buy Snapchat

Facebook bought Instagram in 2012 for around $ 1 billion and Whatsapp in 2014 for around $ 22 billion. At the time, the takeovers did not trigger any objection from regulators in the USA – even if critics argued that Facebook had thereby incorporated competitors who could have been dangerous for the company.

The online network counters that both services could have reached their current size, each with well over one billion users, not least thanks to the technical platform of Facebook. In addition, there is still a lot of competition. Facebook's founder and boss Mark Zuckerberg had also tried to buy the Snapchat photo app, but its founders turned down the offer.

. (tagsToTranslate) Economy (t) Facebook (t) WhatsApp (t) Instagram (t) Silicon Valley (t) Monopolies