A Facebook antitrust suit can move forward, a judge says, in a win for the F.T.C.

A federal judge on Tuesday allowed the Federal Trade Commission’s antitrust lawsuit against Facebook to move forward, rejecting Facebook’s request to dismiss the case and handing the agency a major victory in its quest to curtail the power of the biggest tech companies.

A Facebook antitrust suit can move forward, a judge says, in a win for the F.T.C. Merlin_198064230_bab06947-cc48-4a19-a456-4082dba1c03a-articleLarge

A Facebook antitrust suit can move forward, a judge says, in a win for the F.T.C. Merlin_198064230_bab06947-cc48-4a19-a456-4082dba1c03a-articleLarge

The judge, James Boasberg of the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia, said last year that the F.T.C. had not provided sufficient evidence that the company, which has since renamed itself Meta, had a monopoly in social media and abused that power by harming competition. The agency refiled the case in August, and on Tuesday Judge Boasberg said that it had provided adequate support.

But he also included some caveats. Judge Boasberg said the agency could proceed with its claims that the company abused its monopoly power through acquisitions, which the agency has described as a “buy-or-bury” strategy. He dismissed, however, the agency’s charge that Facebook violated antitrust laws by cutting off third parties from its platform.

The facts provided by the agency, he said, “are far more robust and detailed than before, particularly in regard to the contours of defendant’s alleged monopoly.”

The judge’s decision is a major step forward for regulators battling the powerful armies of lobbyists and litigators employed to protect the empires built by tech giants like Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google. Their combined market value has surpassed $7 trillion.

Government officials argue that this concentration of power hurts rivals and can harm consumers. In rare bipartisan agreement, Democrats and Republicans have rallied around antitrust action. This week, the Senate announced that it would begin to vote on new antitrust laws aimed at the tech sector.

.https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/11/technology/facebook-antitrust-ftc.html

screw metaverse

A Facebook antitrust suit can move forward, a judge says, in a win for the F.T.C.

A Facebook antitrust suit can move forward, a judge says, in a win for the F.T.C.

Anarcho-Capitalist Non-Miscellaneous

Celebrate Evildoers' Inadvertent Contributions to AnCaps' Values!