It is a bang that resounds from the USA on the evening of German time: The American FTC will be on behalf of a total of 46 US states and the capital district a lawsuit against Facebook bring on the way. The subject of this procedure is anti-competitive behavior by the Facebook group from the FTC’s point of view, which began many years ago.
As early as 2014, Facebook began to harm the competition when on the one hand it took over the Instagram picture service and on the other hand it also made it difficult for other market participants to realize comparable offers. At first they tried to compete with Instagram in the conventional way, but later the decision was made to swallow Instagram and, if possible, nip any other competitive idea in the bud.
This has led to a limited selection of social networks that consumers can use, the authority continues. However, social networks are central to the lives of Americans, the aim of the FTC is to eliminate the conditions of limited competition.
Facebook could be smashed
Therefore, the agency’s endeavors are aimed at forcing Facebook to part with the assets in which Instagram and WhatsApp manifest themselves because WhatsApp is also part of the monopoly on social networks that the FTC has attested.
Facebook would also be banned from behavior that could slow down or prevent the rise of competing business models, and the network would have to get government approval for new, larger mergers.
The investigation that led to this step began over a year ago. It will be some time before a final decision is made and Facebook may or may not actually be broken up.
